Mended Hearts Series: 1: Home
by ExistInspire
Summary: Jeff Hardy had made a successful comeback after years away from the WWE, and he is on cloud nine, but a diva from his past comes back. Can she save his heart or will he be lost forever?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** All WWE content is owned by Vincent Kennedy McMahon and any use here is purely for entertainment value only. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Summary:** Jeff Hardy had made a successful comeback after years away from the WWE, and he should be on cloud nine but he finds himself lost with no direction. Can a person from his past come back and change him for the better or will he be lost forever?

**Distribution:** Due to the amount of theft lately with fictions, I am putting a direct list of who can host this fiction. It may be changed in the future but until that time, I am only allowing my own personal site, the Open Archive, and Fan fiction dot net to have access to these works. If you would like to host any of my work please email me with a request.

**Series:** Mended Hearts Series

**Authors Notes:** With the conclusion of two of my stories, I have decided to now start a new one with a new direction. Any and all reviews are appreciated as I love to know what my readers think of the work that I do, but they are not mandatory.

* * *

**I'm staring out into the night,  
Trying to hide the pain.**

No one knew that he liked to do this. To come outside the arena when all of the fans were inside watching the matches and take in the night around him. He had been doing it since his first go around with World Wrestling Entertainment and he found that it soothed him. The way the stars twinkled and the moon shined gave him comfort on nights like these where he was starting to feel worn and alone.

Feeling lonely didn't usually hit him this way often, but when he did, the sounds of the passing motorists, all needing to get to their destinations, and the sound of the roaring crowd from inside the building gave him pause and made him think. He used to use these moments to write, but for lack of not having a notebook, or any painting supplies around, he chose to stare into the night and just take it all in.

He had always been this way, introspective, looking at the world in a different way then most of his friends and family. He knew they all looked at him and said to themselves what a quirky and strange guy he was. He was well aware that he didn't quite fit in, and at times like these he didn't even care.

He had made the decision last summer to come back to the ring, in a different way then with TNA, but again with the company that still employed his brother Matt. It was a huge step for him, given that when he had left the last time, he had been accused of being a drug addict that wouldn't admit he had a problem. Little did the people in the company and the people close to him know that they had no clue why he really left and why he felt the need to spread his wings in another place other then the ring.

As he stared out into the night, he remembered the way his brother had been when he had finally dropped the bomb on him that he would no longer be wrestling with him or with the company that had given them their first real famous start. Matt had been angry, more angry then Jeff had ever seen him and just thinking about it now gave him shivers.

"_Why would you walk away from all of this Jeff? What is going through your mind? Is what they say in the locker room right? Are you taking pills again?"_

"_No I am not taking pills again Matt, and since when you do listen to the other wrestlers and not to your own brother? Since when did you become more about this damn company then about your own family?"_

"_When my brother decided to bite the hand that feeds him and walk away from everything he could become."_

Shaking his head of the vision of Matt's angry face before him, he thought about what had happened that day after they had yelled at each other. Matt had no clue at all what was really going through his own brothers head and at times it seemed like he didn't even care to know. He had been in a slump for a long time before he had finally left, and everyone around him knew it. He just finally did something about it and took charge of his life and his brother had not understood it. Not for one second.

Jeff couldn't fault his brother, it was that whole mentality of believing deep inside that they would be tagging again and be on the top of their game all over again. He was blinded by the fact that they could be something and really run the company and had let his relationship with his brother fall by the way side. Jeff knew they would never tag again, not if he had stayed and was thankful when he got out because it was before Matt's ex girlfriend had decided to do a number on his heart.

Amy Dumas, the girlfriend to his brother, and the best friend to him through all of the mess with the pills and afterwards. If there was one person that he hadn't seen changing, it was her and thinking back on it all now, watching Matt change into the man that he now was, and knowing a lot of it had to do with what she had done to him, well it made him proud to have known her.

So much had changed in the past four years since he had been with the company. Everyone had finally grown up and were now a little smarter and wiser then they had once been. Himself included. He had learned the most in the shortest amount of time because he hadn't shut himself off from it.

He took one last look at the darkened sky above him, taking in the breath of fresh air that being outside brought out in him and made a beeline back to the arena door. As soon as he opened the door he came face to face with the one person he hadn't wanted to see.

"Hey Jeff, can I steal a minute of your time?" she asked him with a small smile. She was just as sick as he was about having to work together despite the path their lives had taken.

It wasn't that he didn't like her. Because he did indeed like her, she was a wonderful woman to know and to talk to. But she reminded him of his past, of a woman long forgotten. The one woman he was trusted more then anything. The woman that had helped him get over Beth.

"Yeah I don't have to tag with Matt for another half hour or so. What's on your mind?"

He could see what Matt had seen in her over a year ago. She was indeed a beautiful woman. She had really grown into her beauty in the past year and she had a killer taste in music once you got to really know her. That was part of the appeal of them getting close when she was dating Matt. Ashley had always liked his music and it gave them hours of conversational tools.

"Trish is on my mind Jeff. I thought you should know that the WWE has been in contact with her and she is thinking about coming out of retirement."

There it was, the reason they couldn't be close as friends. Because although most people didn't know it, Ashley and Trish were best friends, having hailed from the same town and literally grown up just down the street from each other as kids. She was also the girl that had stolen his heart, and hadn't bothered to give it back to him when she had run off and gotten married to an old school sweetheart.

"I thought she was happy being the married housewife now, so why the change?"

Ashley looked at him, as if looking through him and for once, he felt very uncomfortable. What was it with him and blonde's? Did they have some sort of mystical power where they thought they could get into his head if they looked at him a certain way?

"They broke up Jeff, I thought you knew that."

"The day I walked out of the WWE the last time was the day she stopped informing me of her life decisions Ashley. What does any of this matter anyway?"

She took a step back from him and then looking away for a second, gathered what Jeff made out to be her thoughts and then turned back to face him. She put her hands on his shoulder gently, in the way she had when she had dated his brother, when she was being a friend and spoke again.

"It matters because whether you want to admit it or not, you still care about her. She didn't want me to tell you that she was considering a comeback, but as your friend, I knew I had to do it."

As she walked away from him then, his shoulder still burning from the touch she had just initiated his heart stung. He was feeling down and more alone then he ever had and now he had to worry about the girl that got away coming back into his life with a vengeance.

Could his night or his life for that matter get any worse?

When she saw his brother, exiting from the locker room, a stern look written on his young features, he knew it definitely could get worse. Matt saw him then and made a beeline for him and Jeff felt at that moment like he was going to be sick. There was no way he could handle a match now, not when Ashley had just dropped her proverbial bomb.

Was it really possible she would be coming back?

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** All WWE content is owned by Vincent Kennedy McMahon and any use here is purely for entertainment value only. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Summary:** Jeff Hardy had made a successful comeback after years away from the WWE, and he should be on cloud nine but he finds himself lost with no direction. Can a person from his past come back and change him for the better or will he be lost forever?

**Distribution:** Due to the amount of theft lately with fictions, I am putting a direct list of who can host this fiction. It may be changed in the future but until that time, I am only allowing my own personal site, the Open Archive, and Fan fiction dot net to have access to these works. If you would like to host any of my work please email me with a request.

**Series:** Mended Hearts Series

* * *

**I'm going to the place where love  
And feeling good don't ever cost a thing**

He walked along the Hardy land, grateful for the week of no house shows, mainly for his body which had been taking more then its share of a beating lately, but also for the reason of just wanting to be back where the green grass grew and he felt sane.

His father was still dating his current girlfriend, so lately coming home to visit him wasn't as needed, and he found that while the woman did not take the place of his mother, the eternal angel herself, she did take good care of his father and he was grateful. He walked the land with a purpose, so much running through his mind.

He hadn't been very good in the match the night before, his back now finally screaming in agony after going through too many ladder matches and falls from steel cages. He knew he was taking a chance with his body and his life every time he got into the ring, but he also knew he couldn't see himself doing anything else. He was creative and he prided himself on it immensely but in his mind, wrestling for him was his chance to be creative. Who else could say they did what he did and got away with it?

If he had to be honest, it had nothing to do with the match before that had brought him home like a wounded dog this week but more about what he had learned before being in the match that threw him for a loop.

Trish Stratus was broken up with her husband of only a few months and she was debating whether or not to make a comeback to the ring. The ring that until last year she had called home. He had just returned when she was leaving, and they hadn't been really close, but he felt like he had lost a piece of his heart when she had walked away from the business.

_Didn't you go ahead and do the same thing to her only a few short years before though?_

Sure he had. He had walked away with the intent to go off, be a musician, be a good boyfriend to his forever girl Beth and also to just take time off and be Jeff Hardy. But it hadn't turned out all that well in the long run. He felt the need to get back in the ring on his own terms then, and had chosen to go to TNA and make a go of it. Which he had and which he had also enjoyed a great deal. Sure his past had followed him there and he had been on probation for his actions more then once, but he was still able to do it on his own terms.

She had understood his reasoning then though. They hadn't been dating although the feelings were indeed there back then, as they still were for him now. He had learned from talking to Amy back then that while Trish had missed him immensely, she never let it affect her run with the titles or her work ethic and he was happy for it. As much as he had loved Beth back then and treasured Trish, he knew that sticking around when he was unhappy would do no good for any of them.

But now, where was he and how did he really feel about her return? His head screamed that it could only lead to more trouble for him and for the story he had so richly worked on and deserved. But his heart said different. After breaking things off with Beth before his new WWE comeback, he knew that his heart was leading him back to her. The only problem was, when he came back to her, she was already planning a wedding and moving on.

_You shouldn't have walked away with no contact. If you have done it differently, she still might be here now._

How many times had he wished that she would be there with him now, as he stalked the Hardy land he had built his house on, caring for him and for their marriage as well as any children they may or may not have had? How many times had he admitted to himself that the only person that had ever sparked the feeling of commitment in him had been the Toronto born Diva? More times then he could count, and as he stopped to smell the scent of life around him, he knew that the feeling was still very much there.

He took in the life around him, the trees swaying with the movement of the westward wind and the sound of the birds chirping as they flew around him with not a care in the world. For years this land had been used to create food and a money making life for their family, even before his mothers passing and he found now that there was no other place he could live in within the planet where he could feel this at peace.

It was a lot like when she sat outside the arena's during house shows and also during the taping of the RAW shows he was on as a tag team with his brother. The same feelings were evoked in him and he was thankful that instead of letting life take him over, he stopped to smell the roses.

Matt had never been like him, he was always the smart brother, the one that saw what he wanted and went after it and worked damn hard to get it. Jeff admired that about his older brother, but he also knew that he was more like his mother then anyone cared to admit when the family got together. He was the forever dreamer, the one that had his head in the clouds and always wanted to find ways to make use of the beauty in front of him. He was thankful that he was that way, because it meant that even now, so many years after her death, that Ruby Hardy still did live on.

_If Mama was alive now, what do you think she would make of the situation you find yourself in?_

He knew that his mother was watching from Heaven and that she did indeed know what was going through her younger son at the moment. He also truly believed that she would help him in the only way she could, through his heart, to help him make the right decision. He sometimes wished for a simpler time, a time where she would still be with them and healthy so that he could take his life to her and leave it in her hands, knowing it would all turn out okay.

"Mama you would have loved Trish had you gotten the chance to really meet her. Whether we were really together or not, she changed me and she made an impact no other woman but you could ever do. I wish you could give me the answers, to make me see what I need to do here. Should I be okay with Trish coming back or should I be worried? Is it possible that this could change both of our lives forever?"

He spoke to his mother often, looking up to the sometimes clear blue sky as he did. He knew that she was listening, and one day, when the time was right, she would answer him and give him what he needed most. Answers.

He heard crunching of grass coming from behind him then and turned to face whatever was coming for him. He knew instantly without even looking that it was his brother, and that he was worried about him. Matt always knew when Jeff wandered off that something needed to be dealt with and this time was no different.

"Jeff, where are you right now?"

"I am where I always am Matt, here with you on our land appreciating life."

Matt walked and stood by his brother then, choosing to look out over the vast beauty of the world with him for once. To take in all they had and all they had accomplished in such a short amount of time. He rarely did it, but at this moment, he knew that was what his brother needed most. He needed him to understand.

"Are you going to leave again? Is that what this time alone is all about? Are you ready to jump again?" he asked lightly, knowing this topic was not an easy one for the younger Hardy brother to talk about.

"No Matthew, I am not going to jump again, not the way I did in the past. Things are different now, I am different."

"Then what is it? What has got you out here this early in the morning staring off into space?"

"She is coming back Matt, and I am afraid that the feeling of being home again is going to come crashing down around me and i won't be able to save myself."

* * *


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** All WWE content is owned by Vincent Kennedy McMahon and any use here is purely for entertainment value only. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Summary:** Jeff Hardy had made a successful comeback after years away from the WWE, and he should be on cloud nine but he finds himself lost with no direction. Can a person from his past come back and change him for the better or will he be lost forever?

**Distribution:** Due to the amount of theft lately with fictions, I am putting a direct list of who can host this fiction. It may be changed in the future but until that time, I am only allowing my own personal site, the Open Archive, and Fan fiction dot net to have access to these works. If you would like to host any of my work please email me with a request.

**Series:** Mended Hearts Series

**Authors Notes:** Thank you for the reviews on the first chapter, as I have only now just posted the second one. I appreciate the time you take out of your day to read my work and I hope I can bring you along for the ride here as well. This chapter will be taken from Trish's vantage point as the last two have been from Jeff's.

* * *

**And the pain you feel is a different kind of pain.**

She pulled out another box, putting away pictures to later be put into storage, never to be looked at again. As she cleared out the plastic from the inside of the already made box, she wondered just where she had gone wrong with her life.

She was a wrestler and a damn good one she thought. But she had decided that in order to be the woman she knew she could be, she would leave that behind and start a new life with her new husband. Now, only seven months into the marriage, she was here and packing up mementos from their life as if it had never even existed. She felt broken, tired of doing this and even for thinking about him the way she was.

_Just a few more boxes and you will be able to put this away forever. _

If only it were that easy. She knew that by packing all of these pictures and wedding presents away, that it might put him out of her mind for a little while, but nothing would ever truly put him out of her heart. She had given herself to this man, had pledged to love him until the day she died. From where she was standing now, she was very much alive, even if it felt like her heart was dead. Just where had things gone wrong?

_The day you walked away from the life you built and love in the ring._

She knew this to be true but deep down inside she had wished it hadn't been that that had done her marriage in before it even really began. She knew she wanted a family, to be able to go places and not get pounced on by the fans, and she knew she wanted to have babies. She also knew that he loved her and that he wanted the same thing, so she had done what she felt was the right thing. She had given up the thing she loved more then life itself. She had walked away from the Women's Title and the WWE altogether, without so much as a proper send off.

She thought of what was happening in wrestling now. Shawn Michaels, one of her deepest friends in the business was trying with all his might to be at the top of the game again, and Melina was riding high with her old championship. Giving the women of the WWE something to truly fear. Matt and Jeff Hardy were the tag champions as she knew they very well should be, and all seemed right with the world of wrestling. So why was she feeling that she could be the missing link? Why did she want to go back after she had walked away so easily only seven months before?

_Him, you know you need to finish what you started with him._

The him that her mind refused to name was Jeff Hardy, and just thinking his name, allowing it to pass through her brain again after all these years of them being apart and not being what they once had been, best of friends, it made her heart sick. There has been a time when the only person on the entire roster to ever truly get her had been this man, with his rainbow hair and colorfully drawn arm marks. His high flying moves had showed him to be a risk taker and the need to be the best he could be had worn on her and made her come to like him.

They had been introduced to each other by Amy Dumas, who had been Trish's closest female friend in the business at the time, and Amy just knew that they would hit it off. As it turned out she wasn't much off, because there was always an unspoken feeling between them, even then.

She had been with her boyfriend at that point, and he had been with Beth, but they found themselves drawn to each other each and every night they had to work together. When they had finally been put together, Jeff had been sure it had been fate, something he believed in strongly at the time.

As she remembered that time, she wondered to herself if he still believed in fate? Or if over the years that had passed with time. Would he still find it in his heart to believe in her as well?

"_I am going to have to kiss you Trish. I know it shouldn't be an issue because of us being as close as we are as friends but if for any reason you think you cannot go through with it, i want you to tell me now so I can handle it."_

_She had watched him as he spoke to her then, so boyish, so young but yet old for his years. He looked nervous to be even bringing this up with her, but she knew that in order for them to make the most of the situation they were being given with the fans and the business, they had to make it look as real as possible._

"_It seems to me that kissing me in that ring out there should be the least of your problems."_

_Jeff had laughed then, the small smile he always had when he did able to light up the darkest room no matter where he was. She always noticed that first about him, his smile was so enticing. _

"_Then what should I be worried about then?"_

"_You should be worried that I might like it and want you to do it again."_

She thought back fondly to that time in her life, when she had been playful and non caring, as if the world could stop and everything would turn out just fine. She hadn't been worried back then what her then boyfriend would think, and she hadn't cared about Beth. The issue now was as she looked back, that she should have been worried.

There had been fallout of course from that show of affection on air. Even though it had been their job and they were only going with what had been written for them, their partners knew that there was more too it, even when they both hadn't wanted to admit it. So her relationship had ended, with speculation that Jeff and her had been more to each other in the two years prior then just wrestling buddies.

Anyone who worked with them knew this to be true, so it was amazing that it had taken Trish as long as it had to finally admit it to herself. But by the time she had come to terms with it, he was on his way slowly out of her life. The WWE had broken the two of them apart, content to have Jeff be helped by Shawn Michaels and guided in a different direction. They also pushed for her to win the Women's title again, which had been a long time coming since the time before it.

It was amazing to her how things could change so quickly over night. Slowly Jeff started pulling away from her, choosing instead to go back to Beth and give his everything to make it work. He had gotten rid of her, rid her from his heart and in the meantime, had broken his ties with the business. Jeff Hardy had turned his back on their friendship and what might have been, so that he could go off and be alone.

So why did she care now? Why was she sitting here packing away items from her marriage and thinking about Jeff Hardy? What did the enigma have to do with what was happening to her right at that moment?

Could Ashley have been right in thinking that there was unfinished business between the two of them and Trish needed to fix it and move on properly before she could ever feel good about her life again? Or was it what she thought it was and that she had loved Jeffrey Nero Hardy and had never gotten the chance to tell him that she had never stopped?

Closing up yet another box, she dragged the tape across the box, letting the sound of the screeching tape machine take over her mind. She couldn't let herself go back there, not now and not ever. Jeff was a thing of her past and all she wanted to do now was move on and make herself the brightest future. Even if it meant giving up on the one true thing she had been holding onto for years. Jeff Hardy's heart.

* * *


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** All WWE content is owned by Vincent Kennedy McMahon and any use here is purely for entertainment value only. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Summary:** Jeff Hardy had made a successful comeback after years away from the WWE, and he should be on cloud nine but he finds himself lost with no direction. Can a person from his past come back and change him for the better or will he be lost forever?

**Distribution:** Due to the amount of theft lately with fictions, I am putting a direct list of who can host this fiction. It may be changed in the future but until that time, I am only allowing my own personal site, the Open Archive, and Fan fiction dot net to have access to these works. If you would like to host any of my work please email me with a request.

**Series:** Mended Hearts Series

**Authors Notes:** Many thanks for the reviews thus far, they keep me motivated at a time when I have so many stories going I tend to lose focus. I hope I can continue this story in the same vain as I have been and create a meaningful romance for everyone.

* * *

**Well I'm going home,  
Back to the place where I belong,**

She exited the cab and looked up at the tall building that stood so dauntingly in front of her. She had been here numerous times before in the life that was her WWE career, and she hadn't regretted a moment of it. As long as you didn't count the day she had to put in her resignation. That was the only regret she had because it had taken her away from the place she did feel she belonged.

In a world where feelings and thoughts got lost in the shuffle and pushed deep inside and never spoke about, as she looked in front of her now, she felt all of those old feelings resurface. The day she had said goodbye to her friends had been one of the hardest days of her life and coming home from it had left her drained and completely sick with loss. Her soon to be husband hadn't understood her then, but then he never really had when she looked back on their relationship.

_So why did you even marry the man?_

Why had she gone ahead and married him indeed. That was the question that everyone had asked her since she had told them about the upcoming divorce, and one that while she knew the answer in her heart, she could never repeat to anyone else. If anyone really knew the reason behind why she had married him, then they would never look at her the same again.

Trish wasn't the girl that did things to please people. She was the one that took the world head on and did what made her happy and what would make her life one of pleasure and learning. So why in the world had she let this one man dictate what she was going to do with the rest of her life? And why did she give someone she hadn't even dated the power to control the way she felt in her personal life?

She knew that divorcing him was the best thing she could be doing right now. She had packed all of his stuff away and shipped what she didn't want back to where he was now staying. She felt cleansed of him even though they hadn't been together all that long to begin with. If only she could cleanse herself of the man that still held the keys to her heart, then she really could be free.

But that was why she was there wasn't it? She was there now, in the Titan Tower to get her job back, to get her life back again. Only then would she be able to come to terms with her misguided past and make things right again. She was aware that he knew she was thinking of coming back, but she also knew that he thought it wasn't a done deal. If he knew she was here now, would he be happy about it? About her blowing back into his life when he finally looked like he had it all under control?

Control and Jeff weren't two words that normally went well together as she knew from their past, but right now, he did seem to be on the upward part of his career and the last thing she wanted to do, in searching for answers and to put feelings and emotions to bed was to throw his life into upheaval. Even though they had a rocky friendship and a rocky past, he did deserve so much more then that now.

_Why haven't you been able to let him go?_

Because as much as my head doesn't want to admit it, I have been in love with him all of this time. I want him to move on and I want to be able to do the same, but until I come face to face with him again and find out where we stand, things will never be resolved.

She made her way into Titan and put her head up high, knowing that for once, this time she had every right to be there and she was there with one purpose in mind. She was going to get her job back and when she did, she was finally going to be honest with her far away friend. Her heart depended on it.

* * *

"She's what?"

Jeff watched as Matt stood before him now with a perplexed expression on his crinkled features. When people looked at them, Matt looking so much like their mother and he looking so much like their father, they sometimes wondered if they were even related. As Jeff watched him now, running his fingers through his hair in absolute shock and confusion, he wondered the same.

"Ashley told me that Trish has been in talks with Vince about making a comeback in the WWE."

"I thought she went off to be happily married and make babies?" Matt asked, knowing that Jeff thought the same thing and finding the question to be pointless.

"So did I, but instead she now wants to come back and her marriage is officially over before it began."

Jeff watched as his brother lost himself deep in thought, not sure if Matt was really thinking about Trish now or about the fact that his ex girlfriend had been the one to tell Jeff what was going on. He knew that Jeff had been friends with Ashley before all of the shit between them went down, but he also knew that his brother was paranoid about something happening between them as well.

"Why do you even care? When you left the WWE all those years ago, I thought you put her behind you? I mean you did move on with Beth at the time and you two were even planning on eventually getting married. That obviously didn't go as planned by why would Trish coming back now upset you? Is there something you haven't told me?"

Jeff knew there was so much he hadn't told the older Hardy. So much that he had regretted doing, and things he even wished he had done. But he knew that none of that was relevant now.

"No there isn't anything other then what you know. I guess I just never got over her Matt, and thinking about her coming back now, it brings back the past and makes me want to work harder to make the future better."

Matt hugged his brother then, the silent vote of support evident. It was times like these, when Matt showed just how much he cared that Jeff was reminded that they were indeed brothers and in the end, they would stand together no matter who came in and out of their lives. It was the only thing in this life that made any sense anymore.

"Do not let her bring you down Jeff. You worked hard to get back here and to be where we are right now in the WWE. I do not need you running off to find yourself again."

_What happens if I run off again only to find out that I do not want to be found?_

Trish's making a comeback haunted him more with each passing minute and hour and day, and he knew now would be the time to tell his brother everything. Matt assumed Jeff was happy, that he couldn't be any higher on the pole of life in the WWE, but he was dead wrong.

He hadn't been himself for awhile. There was that spark that was missing, despite acting as if it wasn't missing when he wrestled in the squared circle. He was depressed, had even taken to seeing a doctor about it, just to be safe. He knew Matt would understand if he brought it all out now but he also knew that Matt didn't need to know every single thing. All his brother needed to know was that he couldn't and wouldn't leave him high and dry again.

"Matt, I won't run again. I told you I meant business in coming back and I meant it then as much as I do now."

He knew his older brother wouldn't believe a word of it and would instead watch and wait with baited breath and that was fine with Jeff. If Matt felt he needed to babysit him, then it was his loss of time.

For his own state of mind he hoped nothing came of Trish coming back, and if she did, that she would stay as far away from him as she could get. Otherwise nothing was secure anymore.

* * *


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** All WWE content is owned by Vincent Kennedy McMahon and any use here is purely for entertainment value only. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Summary:** Jeff Hardy had made a successful comeback after years away from the WWE, and he should be on cloud nine but he finds himself lost with no direction. Can a person from his past come back and change him for the better or will he be lost forever?

**Distribution:** Due to the amount of theft lately with fictions, I am putting a direct list of who can host this fiction. It may be changed in the future but until that time, I am only allowing my own personal site, the Open Archive, and Fan fiction dot net to have access to these works. If you would like to host any of my work please email me with a request.

**Series:** Mended Hearts Series

* * *

**And where your love has always been enough for me.**

As she reached the floor of the office where she would soon learn her fate she took a deep breath of the air around her. She had never truly noticed how well kept these offices were when she had been here when her career was on a high. She never noticed much of anything when she was flying high with the title, truth be told. She noticed it now, and found herself focusing on the framed photographs that surrounded her. The wall was littered with them.

Every champion that had ever held the belt surrounded the walls, and Trish felt a cold shiver run down her spine. It was if every one of them was looking down on her with accusing eyes. As if they all damned her for leaving in the first place and then now for coming back and wanting a second and last chance.

She shook of the feeling and looked at the door before her. There were other people in there with Vince and his head writer for Raw at the moment and she found herself wondering who was beyond those walls. Who was in there learning their story line fate before she was about to learn her career fate? Were they as frightened as she was at that very moment or was this all just a formality for them like it had been not so long ago for her.

_You deserve to be here, your past merits it._

Of course she deserved to be here, and deserved the chance to come back better then ever. Whether or not Vince had agreed to it was another matter. She knew she was being selfish, wanting to come back after just walking away and saying she would never be back.

To her credit she had really thought she was going to go off, do the television show she had been booked on and then go and have a family with her loving husband. So much for those dreams. Dreams had a way of staying that way and as she stood here now, more nervous to be in the building then she had ever been previously, she knew that it was more true then any statement that had ever crossed her lips.

She had been through these dreams before, but the face and the space and the time had been different. How many times had she been alone at night in Toronto, and fantasized about the life she could have with one rainbow hair colored extremist? How many times had they spoken on the phone four years prior about what they both seemed to want out of their life and how they didn't think they would ever get it?

Well she had gotten a brief glimpse at it and now she knew, after the walk out that had happened a few short weeks ago that it was not to happen for her. The man she wanted to be settled with, having a family with was not the man she had married and she had been kidding herself when she had thought that could ever be the case.

Why had she never taken the time to tell him she loved him? Why had she let him walk out of her life back then and moved on like it happened everyday? Why couldn't she just tell him that she wanted a life with him and begged him to stay with her? To never leave her arms again?

_Because he wasn't yours to do that too thats why. _

And now? What stopped her now from picking up the phone or using her cell and calling him and telling him once and for all that throughout everything she had not forgotten what he felt like, what he smelt like and what she wished could have been between them?

_Because he made it clear he does not need you in his life thats why you aren't calling him right now._

Her mind just would not let her forget the past. Amy had always wondered why Trish hadn't admitted her feelings back when she had the chance. Or at the very least told him before she went off to get married, hoping that maybe he might be able to talk her out of it. She hadn't had the gumption then and she seriously doubted that with everything that had happened since that she did now.

The door to the office opened then and she heard Vince saying his cordial goodbyes to the people that were now leaving. She made her way forward, on impulse mostly, until she walked right into the strong chest of the person before her. She knew instantly that it wasn't a woman, because there was no cushion, but when she looked up, she hadn't expected who was standing before her.

The past came back to her in a flash and she felt herself get dizzy. All of the memories of stolen moments backstage, talks about their lives and their future, whether together or apart in the business came flashing back to her all at once. Before she had a chance to ask for help she felt the darkness overtake her.

* * *

"Jesus Christ!" he murmured under his breath as he managed to catch her in his arms before she free fell to the floor below. As he held her, half cradled in his arms, he looked at her. He knew they had a special connection and that they had the power to affect each other, like no other two people in the locker room, but this was something he had never had happen before.

"Mary get her some water." Vince snapped, coming completely out of the room now and motioning for Jeff to bring her into his office where they had a couch that would accommodate her.

When they were sure she was situated properly, her head elevated, Mary brought them the water and they proceeded to dip it in a cloth and put it on her head. Within seconds of the action she started murmuring and she moved her body, letting it awaken to the sights and sounds around her.

"What happened?" she managed to croak out before letting her eyes fall and stand on the man that was bent over her, trying to make sure she was okay.

He smiled, but not in the least bit comfortably and rubbed his hand over her hair, making the cloth stay where it was on her forehead to give her some cool air.

"You passed out on me darling. That was not the way I expected to say hello but it works."

She sat still, relishing in the feeling of his hand on her head, taking the gentlest care of her. He had always been this way, wanting to make sure she was okay, helpful and full of words when she could find none at all that made any sense. He was always this caring, this soft hearted. She found that now, with him sitting so close to her that she missed him.

"Oh God I didn't!" she exclaimed and Jeff watched as the rose red came to her cheeks, flushing them and making her almost look like the Santa from his childhood story books. She still looked the way she had the night she had walked out of his life and wrestling for good, or so he thought at the time. She looked even better then she had when he had walked away five years before and he felt the familiar pang in his heart at the thought of her back then.

How he had wished he had told her how much he loved her, and that he needed her in his life. How much he had hoped she would beg him to stay only to get nothing at all.

He shook off the memory and put his focus back on the woman now, the way she was in front of him on the couch, needing help and feeling embarrassed.

"Do you think you can stand now?" Matt asked from behind him making both of them turn with the sound of his voice. They had been so seemingly lost in each other that they hadn't realized any one else had been in the room with them.

"Yeah I think I should be alright now. Sorry about all of the fuss."

When they were sure she was going to be alright, they motioned their goodbyes to the boss and made their way out of the office. Trish watched them go, the entire time hoping he would look back at her, and see the look in her eyes that was needing him to stay, that there was something unfinished between them. But he never did and as soon as the door closed behind them, she knew that he never would look in her direction ever again.

* * *


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** All WWE content is owned by Vincent Kennedy McMahon and any use here is purely for entertainment value only. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Summary:** Jeff Hardy had made a successful comeback after years away from the WWE, and he should be on cloud nine but he finds himself lost with no direction. Can a person from his past come back and change him for the better or will he be lost forever?

**Distribution:** Due to the amount of theft lately with fictions, I am putting a direct list of who can host this fiction. It may be changed in the future but until that time, I am only allowing my own personal site, the Open Archive, and Fan fiction dot net to have access to these works. If you would like to host any of my work please email me with a request.

**Series:** Mended Hearts Series

* * *

**I'm not running from.  
No, I think you got me all wrong.**

"_You are running Jeff Hardy, thats what this is all about. You do not want to face what could happen here so you are choosing to leave."_

_She was right and he knew it. It was not because he needed the break, or because he was failing numerous drug tests and the company had finally had enough. His leaving had nothing to do with those reasons and everything to do with the woman that stood before him now. He was just damn sure he wasn't going to admit that to her now. She just had to accept his reasons and let him walk away, before this got any worse then it was._

_He loved her, and he so desperately wanted to tell her. To tell her that he breaking things off with Beth so that he could finally let his heart do what it wanted. That he would never leave her again and wanted to spend the rest of his life showing her that. _

_But standing before her now, he knew his destiny was clear. He was not the man that she needed and he was sure that he would never be. She needed someone who was more stable. Someone who could give her the marriage and the feelings and the family that she deserved. She didn't need a wrestler that was slowly losing his love of the business and whose mind was going in so many different directions he didn't know which was was up anymore. She didn't need him, despite what she might think now. _

"_I am not running from you Trish, I just don't want to be here anymore and I want to spend more time making a life with Beth. At the very least she deserves that much from me after all of these years."_

"_Jeffrey Nero Hardy, you are not the marrying type, nor are you the settling down type so I don't believe a word you are spewing at me right now."_

_Neither did he and he was shocked that she could see that deeply through him. Just another reason he had to do what he was doing. He couldn't handle her reading him the way she was. It was just too much. He always hoped that a woman would be able to see through him this way and for years had hoped that Beth would be that woman but she wasn't. Trish was and that feeling alone was enough for him to want to put an end to all of this. _

"_Why can't you just take what i say and believe me for once Trish? Why does it always have to be something more with you? I don't want to do this anymore, not with you and not with anyone in the WWE. I want to go home and find Jeff Hardy again."_

_She was silent for a moment and Jeff watched as his words seemed to finally sink into her head. He saw her tears, the ones that cornered at the side of her eyes, refusing to fall and he felt himself get sick to his stomach. He had to do this, it was the best thing for both of them. _

"_Don't do this Jeff, not before we have had a chance to figure out what is going on between us. Please.."_

_He turned his back on her then, and he knew the tears were about to fall and there was nothing he could do to stop them. He was a heel and he knew it but in the end, she would realize this was the best thing for both of them. _

"_There is nothing going on and there never was other then I thought you were a friend."_

_He walked from the locker room and as soon as the door shut behind him he let his own tears fall. He was now officially done with the WWE and done what he needed to in order to move on with his life. He only wished he hadn't had to be such an asshole to do it. _

Removing himself from the memory, he punched the wall of the locker room he was now standing in. His brother was to his left and preparing himself mentally for their tag match later that night. Ever since they had become tag champions Matt seemed to have a renewed focus on the business and his career and Jeff admired him for it. Too bad he couldn't do the same in that moment.

"Jeff let it go alright, you have both moved on."

If only it were that easy to do. Jeff thought to himself as he looked at his brother. He knew Matt was right and that it had been years since the feelings had been on the surface and this real between the two of them. But he found himself lost again, the same way he had been then, and he found that in those moments of loneliness, he remembered her and the way she had looked that day when he had walked away.

"What if I didn't move on Matt? What then?"

His brother looked at him then, a look of dead determination written all over his older features. If there was ever a time that Jeff needed a wake up call it was now. There could never be anything between him and Trish and the sooner his brother realized it, the sooner he could get his head back in the game and be the champion he was meant to be.

"Then I suggest you move on Jeff because she is coming back soon and the last thing either one of you needs is to go back in time and relive what might have been. You have both changed and it has to stay the way it's been all these years."

"It only turned out this way because I ran from her back then Matt. If I had admitted the truth to her that day so many years ago, we might still be together now. How can I walk away from that?"

The stagehand came into the locker room then, motioning at his watch without so much of a word to either man. That meant it was show time and they had better get their heads in the game. Matt wanted to say so much to his brother right now, to make him see what damage he was doing to himself but he knew there just wasn't enough time. So he went with the only thing he could say that would make any difference.

"You already did walk away from it, so stay away now."

* * *


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** All WWE content is owned by Vincent Kennedy McMahon and any use here is purely for entertainment value only. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Summary:** Jeff Hardy had made a successful comeback after years away from the WWE, and he should be on cloud nine but he finds himself lost with no direction. Can a person from his past come back and change him for the better or will he be lost forever?

**Distribution:** Due to the amount of theft lately with fictions, I am putting a direct list of who can host this fiction. It may be changed in the future but until that time, I am only allowing my own personal site, the Open Archive, and Fan fiction dot net to have access to these works. If you would like to host any of my work please email me with a request.

**Series:** Mended Hearts Series

**Authors Notes:** Thank you for the reviews, I am slowly getting more into the story in terms of the meaty parts, so I hope you all like it as it comes.

* * *

**I don't regret this life I chose for me.**

She walked the halls with a purpose. Most of the superstars had known about her return this week but the crowd, even if they read the dirt sheets still had no idea that her comeback was about to make waves. It had been three weeks since her meeting with Vince, the same meeting she had fainted on Jeff Hardy and she found that even after seeing him and knowing he was alright and handling his life fine, that she couldn't put him out of her mind.

_You just need to get over the past is all. It will fade soon enough._

She could only hope with all her might that that was indeed the case and that she would just magically put him out of her mind one day never to look back again. That was what she had been trying to do for three years now and so far it hadn't worked one lick. So what were the odds it was going to work now?

She was brought out of her reverie as she was grabbed from behind in one of the biggest bear hugs of her life. She was famous for those hugs as her father had done them on her for years and had never once been beat in the strength department. She found now though that this man was a hell of a lot stronger then her father.

As her captor let her go, she turned around and came face to face with one of her closest male confidants on the Raw roster, since had joined a few short years before. "Well if it isn't the injury major himself."

He smirked at her and wrapped his arms around her this time in the tightest of hugs. When he finally let go, she smiled at him and motioned for them to walk together.

"So what does it feel like to be back in the habit again Trish? I can only imagine what a rush this all must be for you."

"You have no idea Paul. When i walked away, I never thought I would grace another arena walkway again. But look at me now right? Ready to go out there and shock the world with my return. I should be shaking right now but all I can feel is dizzy with happiness. I really missed this."

He nodded and smiled again. "Tell me about it, come time for Summer slam I might just rip someones head off in the middle of that ring I don't know how to live when I am not in the ring wrestling."

She knew this from experience. When she had decided that the time had come for her to become more of a wrestler and less of a valet, Paul had been the one she had gone too. He knew the business inside and out and he taught her so much about what she needed to do to really make it. And make it she had, exceeding both of their expectations. But in the meantime, they had joined into a tender friendship, one that even though she had walked away, hadn't seemed to change one bit.

She knew of his love of the business, and she knew that when he finally retired, Matt Hardy would be there to take his place. No one loved this business more then Paul and then Matt. So it would only be natural for the elder Hardy to take over where Paul would leave off.

_Why does everything have to come back to the Hardyz?"_

She blew off the thought, knowing that she was right in realizing that she did keep coming back on the topic of them like an old habit. She again tried to focus her attention on Paul and what he was now saying but found that she had missed it when he finally stopped.

"You didn't hear a word I said did you?" he asked lightly, knowing where her mind must be at the moment and wanting to give her as much space as she could handle to come to terms with it. Everyone in the locker room area knew of the past with Trish and Jeff Hardy and everyone knew that eventually it was going to hit the fan. It looked like tonight might be the night.

"I'm sorry Paul, my mind is just not where it should be right now."

"You have been thinking about Jeff haven't you?"

"Was it that obvious?"

Paul laughed and took Trish's hand into his, squeezing it ever so gently. "It isn't that obvious but because I know you and we have talked at length over the years about this same issue, I can kind of see it coming. Have the two of you talked at all?"

"I fainted on him a few weeks back at Titan, but other then that he hasn't said much of anything to me and I to him. My head believes it might just be better that way but my heart doesn't seem to want to accept it."

"Truer words were never spoken Trish. You cannot deny the heart what it wants because if you do, then you end up cold and alone. Take it from someone who until Stephanie walked into my life was doing just that. You need to talk to him and you need to do it soon, to at the very least put the demons of the past to bed for good."

He squeezed her hand one more time before walking away and leaving her standing all alone. And that was exactly how she felt in that moment in time. Completely alone. What had she been thinking coming back here now? Not wanting to debate it any longer she decided she needed to get some air to clear her thoughts and headed for the only place she could think of that she would get it. The outside of the arena.

* * *

"Jeff why do you insist on leaving the locker room every damn night and going outside? What the hell is out there that you can't find in here?"

Jeff threw his brother a look and grabbed his jacket from the hook on the wall. Every city that they went too had different temperatures and this one was no different. He felt shivers going through his body on the way here in the rental car and he wanted to make sure he was protected against getting sick. There was no way he was going to miss his weekly meeting outside.

"Piece of mind Matt, something that you keep telling me is good for the soul. Look I won't be gone that long, I never am and then we can get together and go over the match. I just need to get some air alright?"

Matt grunted and went back to stretching and working on his sore muscles. He had taken a beating in the match against Mr. Kennedy only a week before and he needed to make sure he worked the kinks out before the tag match with Cade and Murdoch later that night.

Jeff headed out the door, on a mission and knowing exactly what he needed at a time like this. He knew she was in the arena, he could feel her presence here, but it also helped that Ashley had come by to warn him so it wouldn't come as too much of a shock. He only hoped that by escaping into the great outdoors, he could avoid all the awkwardness that tonight was sure to bring.

As he opened the door and slid out, trying hard not to trip the alarm that was attached above the door, he heard the door click behind him and took a deep breath. It was then that he heard the gasp of breath and realized he wasn't as alone as he had hoped he would be.

* * *


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:** All WWE content is owned by Vincent Kennedy McMahon and any use here is purely for entertainment value only. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Summary:** Jeff Hardy had made a successful comeback after years away from the WWE, and he should be on cloud nine but he finds himself lost with no direction. Can a person from his past come back and change him for the better or will he be lost forever?

**Distribution:** Due to the amount of theft lately with fictions, I am putting a direct list of who can host this fiction. It may be changed in the future but until that time, I am only allowing my own personal site, the Open Archive, and Fan fiction dot net to have access to these works. If you would like to host any of my work please email me with a request.

**Series:** Mended Hearts Series

**Authors Notes:** Don't worry Trish Orton, late is always better then never and I welcome you aboard for this story like you have been for my other ones! I'm glad you like what is written so far, that goes for all of the reviewers and I only aim to please as it goes on. Below you will find the chapter where they come face to face without the fainting! Also to clarify, Matt is only against Trish and him talking because he knows the past with her has messed up his brother on more then one occasion. At least that was how I saw it in my head when I wrote it. LOL I hope you all like where this goes.

* * *

**But these places and these faces are getting old,**

So much for putting her out of mind by getting out of the building. He took her in, the light of the day still lingering and the sun adding a slight glow to her blond hair. As he looked at her eyes, he saw that she had been out there to do the same as him, to erase the past and to stop it from hitting them like a train going at full speed.

He always found that with the fans he met, and the people he knew and dealt with in his personal life, the eyes had a way of telling much more then words ever could. That was what he could pick up from her now as she stood, nervous and thoughtful before him. She had so much hidden behind those eyes and the longer he stood without speaking, the more he wanted to know just what all of that was.

"Well I suppose this was going to happen sooner or later." she said then, breaking him away from his thoughts of her and back to the reality of standing before her. "I can get out of your way if you came out here to be alone."

She started to move, to walk around his left side and he found himself bring his arm out and put a stop to her. He had wanted to be alone, to try and put the past behind him, but seeing as now it was staring him in the face, there seemed to be no better way to deal with it. "You don't need to run off Trish, I'm sure we can share the same space."

Little did he know that sharing space with him was the entire problem to begin with. He looked better then ever, his hair still the rainbow it had always been, but he looked like the years had treated him well. He had obviously been in the gym and working on becoming bigger then he had been just a few short years before. His body was well defined and she had to fight hard to banish the thoughts she was now having about feeling what he felt like.

Share the same space indeed? Did he not realize that just being around him was causing her mind to do all sorts of crazy things. She was finding it hard to breathe, her forehead breaking out in a cold sweat. Even her palms here getting sweaty, like they had when she was younger, and crushing on a guy.

_You cannot crush on this man again, it will only lead to heartbreak._

"Jeff I can't be here, not with you. I'm sorry."

She again tried to make her way past him, refusing to give him any sort of look to let him know what she was dealing with inside of herself right now. She just wanted to get back to her job and not have to think about Jeff Hardy and what he had the power to do to her.

As she made her way to the door she heard it, the sound of his voice cracking, very low, and almost seductive. The same voice she had come to love and never really forget about despite their time apart.

"Don't leave."

He reached out for her arm then and she found herself allowing herself to give in and let him pull her back. When she was back and face to face with him, she found herself at a loss for words.

How many times had she wished for this to happen? For him to see her, to come to her and just tell her not to leave him? How long had she been dreaming of this feeling now as he held her hand, sweaty palms and all? She had never really been fair to her marriage to Ron because this dream had always been there, just lying underneath the surface.

"Why should I stay?"

He gazed at her then, letting his eyes fall right in line to hers and he cupped her cheek with his hands, the warmth of them causing her body to react in ways it hadn't since he had walked out on her all those years ago.

"Because I need you."

Trish shied away from him then, turning her eyes down to the ground beneath them, anywhere to stop from seeing the truth in his eyes. He wasn't lying to her about needing her, but she did not want to go back there again. He hadn't needed her four years ago, so what made him need her so badly now? Wasn't she the same woman she was then, wanting the same things from him? If he found it so easy to walk then, why not walk now?

"For years all I wanted was for you to need me the way you say you do now and you never did Jeff. You found it dandy to walk out on me and what might have been without a second thought to what it might do to me, or to us. So why should I stay here now and allow you to need me?"

She knew what she had said had pained him, the look of absolute pain and grief was written now all over his strong male features. But she knew she was right in asking him what she was because she would not allow herself to be played again. The pain of the last time was still fresh.

"You don't need to stay here and let me need you Trish, I would need you even if you walked out right now. I just wanted to be honest with you for once because I know I never have been."

If there had ever been any truth to anything Jeff Hardy had said it was now. He had not given her the chance to love him, the chance to be the person he needed her to be. He had always assumed he knew that she was better then him and she should have better. He had denied his feelings and walked out on her, all the while telling her lies to make her forget him. It was obvious to him now that she had never forgotten him and what they never had the chance to have.

"I can't go back Jeff.." she said then, very voice a low drawl, the pain of just being here with him now coming to the surface. She was supposed to be a new person now, a person who wouldn't let the past get to her. But it was and she knew that if she didn't put a stop to it now, it would only lead to more heartbreak down the line.

"I don't want you to go back, I want you to go forward." he answered back. Taking his hand into hers, he kissed her palm gently, letting her sweat transfer to his lips. Tasting her pain as he did it.

He had told her the truth, he didn't want them to focus on the past but on whatever the future should hold. He had been troubled by the past for the past few weeks since he had been told of her comeback to the ring and he found that now, with her standing in front of him, opening herself up more then she wanted too, that all he wanted to do was wipe the past away.

He saw a single tear fall from her eye then and with a quick movement he wiped it away. Looking her deep in the eyes then, wanting so much to kiss her, to feel what it would feel like to have her lips on his, he whispered to her. Words he felt more then ever, but knew for once she needed to hear.

"Help me hold on."

He let go of her and headed for the door to enter the arena then, but before he could get to it, she spoke again.

"Hold on to what?"

"To the one thing I have wanted with you since I laid eyes on you. Help me hold onto love."

* * *


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer:** All WWE content is owned by Vincent Kennedy McMahon and any use here is purely for entertainment value only. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Summary:** Jeff Hardy had made a successful comeback after years away from the WWE, and he should be on cloud nine but he finds himself lost with no direction. Can a person from his past come back and change him for the better or will he be lost forever?

**Distribution:** Due to the amount of theft lately with fictions, I am putting a direct list of who can host this fiction. It may be changed in the future but until that time, I am only allowing my own personal site, the Open Archive, and Fan fiction dot net to have access to these works. If you would like to host any of my work please email me with a request.

**Series:** Mended Hearts Series

* * *

**So I'm going home.  
Well I'm going home.**

Her return was over, the crowd taken for the ride of their lives and she found now as she prepared to make the long trek home to Toronto, not needed again for another week, that she couldn't think of anything else but what had happened earlier in the night between her and Jeff.

She had known they would meet up again. That the fainting in Vince's office would not be the only contact they would ever have with each other, but she had been hoping for just a little more time before confronting her demons. He obviously had had demons of his own because as she packed her bag in the locker room, she let herself remember his words to her.

"_Help me hold on."_

He had certainly gone out on a limb admitting that he needed her, and then to go as far as to ask for help in holding on to love. She knew how she felt, how long she had waited for him to say what he had said to her only a few hours before. But she also knew that a lot had changed since then and that she had married someone because she thought she would never have what he was now giving her.

She looked around the locker room, taking it all in before heading out and down the hall to the exit. Just what had he been hoping would happen when he came back less then a year ago? Had he been hoping even then that they would be like the way they were then? Or had he come to terms with her being in a serious relationship with someone other then him and was happy to see her move on?

Did someone who claimed to need help holding onto love really ever get over the person they asked the help of? Was Jeff Hardy telling her that he loved her and wanted her help to realize it? Or was he meaning it in a different light?

So many of the same questions came at her in a barrage that threatened to weaken her sanity. She had known from the first time they met that he talked in circles and rhymes, and this time was no different. Just what was she supposed to do about this now? How was she supposed to feel?

_You should allow yourself to feel what is right._

There was that damn voice again, from the inside of her mind, no better then the one of Jeff Hardy hours before. Telling her what was right would have been a help, but telling her that she needed to feel what was right was just stating the obvious. Was it right to admit that she was thankful he had put his heart on the table? Was it right to say she loved him more then life itself and finally wanted to get what she had wanted forever?

"Jesus Trish the ink isn't even dry on your divorce papers and here you are thinking about love with Jeff Hardy." she snapped at herself as she made her way to her rental car. The parking area was deserted and she couldn't be happier for it. She did not want anyone to have to bear witness to her delusions and the talking she was now doing to herself.

She just needed to get home, put some distance between her and Jeff for the week and hope that by the time she came back to work, he would be letting it all go and they could both move on.

_You will never move on and you know it._

As she got into the car and started it, she heard the voice again and knew better then to listen to it this time.

"What do you know? Shut up."

She pulled out of the driveway onto the street and the darkness ahead. Whatever it took, she would do it. She was going to put Jeff Hardy completely out of her mind.

* * *

He stood at the window of the hotel room, looking down at the small world of people moving below him and wondered if she was among them now, trying to get somewhere. Anywhere but where he had put her tonight. He knew it had been a bold move, asking her the way he had. But he knew that if he hadn't then she would have walked out on him for good and he couldn't bear to go through that again.

She hadn't given him an answer, but had instead chose to walk away from him and back into the building, surrounding herself with people for the rest of the evening and keeping as far away from him as she could. It hurt, knowing that he had admitted how he felt in a round about way and she had turned and bailed on him but he understood why.

_She is not a single woman, she is married and you need to give her the space to deal with that before coming on to her._

Didn't he know it? He knew she had married Ron, hell he had even thought about going to the wedding to at least say a touching goodbye to the only real woman he had allowed himself to really love. But he hadn't, but he had heard all about it from Ashley, who at the time had been dating Matt. He knew that she was freshly out of it, that the marriage was indeed not over yet and that anything he was doing was coming with a hefty price tag but he just couldn't help himself any more.

For too long he had taken his life for granted. He had not been able to tell his mother that he loved her before she had passed on, and he was hurting still to this day over that. With any other relationships in his past, he always chose to be the silent partner instead of the willing one. It had cost him and now that he had gotten his head clear of all the baggage, he wanted to make a fresh start. He did not want to leave this world knowing he had missed out on telling the one person in his life how he really felt.

He had done it, and she had rebuffed him and now as he looked out at the world below, he knew that he needed to stop at nothing to make sure she knew he was genuine. He might have taken the keys to her heart for granted years ago, but he would never do it again.

He vaguely heard his brother say something to him and turned around to find out just what he wanted.

"What did you say?"

"Off in space again dear brother?"

Jeff rolled his eyes and debated whether or not to go back to looking outside. Matt knew he didn't like to be teased this way and he was in no mood right now to state that to him again.

"I said you need to stop beating yourself up over Trish. You can't be shocked that she didn't come looking for you tonight Jeff. You did happen to trample the girl the last time you were around each other."

He still hadn't spoken to his brother about what had happened earlier in the night at the arena. He knew he told his brother everything, but at this point in time he thought the less Matt knew about his life, the better. Matt cared, but sometimes it came out as overprotective and that was something that Jeff didn't want or need right now. He had already made his case clear earlier in the night. What was the need for another go around?

"I want to make it right, so sue me." was all he managed to say, avoiding Matt's eyes in case his brother might be able to pick up on what he was really thinking.

Matt sighed loudly and took one look at his younger brother. He knew Jeff had changed in the last three years, and he was proud of him. He was worried that all of this talk about the past with Trish would mean that Jeff would revert back and he really did not want to see that for his brother. He loved Trish like a sister, and always had even when all of the shit with Jeff went down four years ago, but neither one of them saw just how bad this was.

"If you want to make it right, then go ahead and make it right Jeff, but don't expect it to be easy."

"Why do you say that?"

"Sit down Jeff, I think it's time I told you what happened when you left the WWE all those years ago. I never bothered to tell you before because I thought that you had moved on with Beth and you didn't need it in your life. I see now that I was wrong. You needed to know then and I need to tell you now."

* * *


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer:** All WWE content is owned by Vincent Kennedy McMahon and any use here is purely for entertainment value only. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Summary:** Jeff Hardy had made a successful comeback after years away from the WWE, and he should be on cloud nine but he finds himself lost with no direction. Can a person from his past come back and change him for the better or will he be lost forever?

**Distribution:** Due to the amount of theft lately with fictions, I am putting a direct list of who can host this fiction. It may be changed in the future but until that time, I am only allowing my own personal site, the Open Archive, and Fan fiction dot net to have access to these works. If you would like to host any of my work please email me with a request.

**Series:** Mended Hearts Series

* * *

**The miles are getting longer, it seems,  
The closer I get to you.**

"I'm listening."

Jeff made his way over to the bed and sat down across from his brother, who had since put the laptop he had been working on away and was preparing to bring his brother up to speed. Jeff had known that something had happened back then, because Amy had eluded to it back when she was with Matt, but he hadn't given it much thought. He had walked away and wanted to make sure he didn't surround himself with the backlash.

"When you walked out that night, I'm sure you figured she was going to turn into a mess and you wouldn't be wrong on that. She ran to Amy and I. She needed answers because she said then that she didn't believe the ones that you had told her. She wanted to know if you were indeed into the drugs, and if it was making you do things you wouldn't normally do. We told her the truth on that front, and she knew it wasn't that anyway. I think the only reason she asked was because it was put on the table but those assholes in the WWE offices."

Jeff nodded and watched his brother intently. None of this sounded hard to take so he assumed the worst was yet to come.

"She then wondered what she had done to make you run from her. She knew that you were dating Beth and you wanted to be fair to her, which was true I think in hindsight, but she also knew that there was more to you leaving then what you were telling her. She felt that you were running from her, and for weeks afterwards she was a wreck. So much so that they faked an injury and gave her time off to deal with the demons. Jeff she went inside herself when you walked out and until Ron came along again, a blast from her past, she stayed there."

He swallowed the huge lump in his throat then and he felt the sickness rising up in his stomach. He had known there would be questions, but he never for one moment thought that she would believe it was all her doing and retreat inside herself the way Matt was explaining now. Just what had he done and was he ever going to be able to fix it?

"Which is why I know that she is going through this divorce now, and dealing with you is making it that much harder on her. I am afraid for the both of you. I think that if you do not take the past for what it is and let it go then you are both going to hurt each other. She is going to go inside of herself again and retreat away from the business she just came back too, and you, well Jeff we all know what you do when you aren't right in the head."

"Matt, I'm not going to run away again. I told you that already. I am a different man now."

Matt looked his brother square in the eye, trying to gage whether or not he was telling him the truth. When he was satisfied that Jeff was being honest with him, he spoke again.

"It's not a matter of you being different Jeff. It's about looking at this logically. Do you really want to cause her any more pain? If you for any reason know you cannot give her what it is she needs from you then you need to stay the hell away from her. For both of your sakes."

"And what if I can be what she needs?"

Matt looked at his brother and a small smile came across his lips. A smile that Matt Hardy did not usually give unless something was genuinely nice.

"Then I say you are in the wrong persons room right now man. I think if you believe you can be what she needs then you need to find her and tell her that. Make her see you for the man you are now and not the idiot that you were then."

* * *

She sat in the lightly lit living room and brought out the stack of old books she had been wanting to go through since she had moved into the house in Richmond Hill months before with her new husband. Or soon to be old husband if her lawyers had anything to do about it. She laid them on the sofa and went back into the kitchen to grab her glass of wine.

It had almost been four years since she had written in these books, the ending being right around the time that Jeff had left the company. As she opened the first one now, she knew she was going to be in for a lot of raw emotion and pain. But in order for her to be able to put the past where it was, to be able to move on as Jeff had said and live for the moment now, forsaking all others, then she had to read this. She had to come to terms with the woman she was then and the woman she was today.

She took a sip of wine, placing the glass down and she allowed herself to be enveloped by the past.

_He kissed me tonight and I have never felt higher then I do right now. When he placed his arms around me, the heart of his body meeting with mine the way that it did, i think I felt the earth shift and the world stop for that whole second it took for him to put his lips to mine. I could feel him breathing on my cheeks and it felt wonderful but the feeling his lips left when the kiss was over felt even better. _

_I swear now, hours later I can taste him the way I could then. I can smell him around me as if at any moment he is going to walk through those doors and into my arms, telling me he had made a mistake being with Beth and that he knew where his heart lay now and it lay with me. _

_It may be wishful thinking on my part, but I have known him for years and we have never once had a moment so complete with emotions as this. We have finally reached the point where we care romantically for each other and I wish for so much more. I know it may never be but the want is there. _

_I am completely in love with Jeff Hardy and I think the time has finally come for me to admit it to him and be damned with the fallout. _

She closed her eyes as she finished reading the entry and took herself back to that time when she had been so caught under a spell that she thought she could never be free from it. She had never gotten the chance to admit to him that she was in love with him because a week later he had come to her and told her of his plans to leave the company and never look back.

That was when her heart died, that night he had walked out and she had always thought that she would never recover. But then Ron had come back into her life like an angel and taken her away from it all, making her feel love the way she had hoped it would feel. So why wasn't she here with her husband now? Because the love he had shown her was not the love that she wanted and she knew it. She still craved Jeff Hardy's love and she knew that no other man would do it for her again until she had it.

Sipping another glass of wine, she stared at the phone, willing it to ring but at the same time wanting to pick it up and call herself. It was time now that she finally let herself feel again. It was time she came back out of the pain and did what Jeff wanted her too and that was focus on the future, what they could have now.

Without another moments notice she picked up the phone and dialed. She only hoped that she wasn't too late to fulfill what needed to be done for her to finally feel happy.

* * *


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer:** All WWE content is owned by Vincent Kennedy McMahon and any use here is purely for entertainment value only. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Summary:** Jeff Hardy had made a successful comeback after years away from the WWE, and he should be on cloud nine but he finds himself lost with no direction. Can a person from his past come back and change him for the better or will he be lost forever?

**Distribution:** Due to the amount of theft lately with fictions, I am putting a direct list of who can host this fiction. It may be changed in the future but until that time, I am only allowing my own personal site, the Open Archive, and Fan fiction dot net to have access to these works. If you would like to host any of my work please email me with a request.

**Series:** Mended Hearts Series

* * *

**I've not always been the best man or friend for you.  
But your love, it makes true.**

The phone rang in the room causing Matt and Jeff both to look at it and question who would know they were there and want to talk to either of them. Both of them hadn't had a serious relationship in a long time so they both knew to rule that out. Could it possibly be their father or his new girlfriend, the woman he had been seeing since a few years after their mothers death? Was it possible something had happened to Daddy?

"Well you better answer it." Jeff said then, knowing that of the two brothers, Matt was the stronger one by far in terms of dealing with bad news. He knew that if was the one that picked up and it would be something regarding his father, he might collapse from the pain of it all. He had always been a beautiful disaster.

He listened intently as Matt spoke into the phone. He scanned his brother for some sign of what was happening on the other end or who it might be that was trying to reach them. When none came he smacked his brother on the arm and gave him a questioning look.

"It's for you anyway."

He passed the phone to his brother and went off in search of something to keep his mind busy. He knew who the person on the other end of the line was, and after the talk that Jeff and he had just had, he knew that his little brother might need some privacy. At the very least he should make himself scarce.

"Hello?" Jeff asked timidly, not knowing if there was a crazy fan girl on the end of the line or if it was something to do with work and a schedule change.

"Do you love me?" the voice said, careless abandon noticeable in her tone.

Jeff had to admire her. She was confused obviously by what he had said to her earlier in the night and as she sat at home in Toronto now, she was probably letting it eat her alive. She needed clarification and he wanted to be the one that gave it to her. Before someone else got to her and clouded her mind with more doubt about his intentions.

"Would it mean something if I said I did?"

She sighed into the phone and Jeff felt like kicking himself. He just now said he wanted to be the one to be honest with her and put his heart and his thoughts out in the open and deal with whatever the fallout was and here he was talking in circles again.

"You know it would. So do you?"

"I do." As soon as he said the words he realized how it sounded. It sounded like they were reciting vows and he had just agreed to love her forever, even in death. The thought of that was surprisingly warming to him which took him off guard but he also knew that it must feel awkward hearing that from him while she was in the midst of a divorce. Hadn't she just promised to do the same with another man.

"I was afraid you might say that." she replied, exasperated.

"I did not want to get into this over the phone, but since you called and you are a million miles away right now, I figure I might as well get it out now. Trish I know I did something horrible in the past with you, kissing you the one time that I did and then walking out on you a week later all in the name of getting my life together. I lied to you that day but I do not want to lie to you anymore. If I don't do this now, and miss the chance I will never be the same man again. I am in serious danger of losing myself, in the most horrible way and I know the only way to not have that happen is to finally be honest with you."

"And have me save you?"

He smiled at her reference to their earlier conversation and realized instantly he had been right, she hadn't been able to let it go any more then he had been able to.

"No princess, I don't want you to save me, I want you to help me hold on."

"If I do help you Jeff, if we go back to the past and try to fix what was broken back then, and it doesn't work. Who will be the one to help you hold on then?"

He knew she had been thinking about this because he had often wondered the same thing over the last few weeks. He knew in his heart that there was no other woman for him now, that she was it. He knew he would spend the rest of his life with this woman in whatever way she would have him but it was obvious she didn't or couldn't allow herself to feel the same way. He didn't blame her but it just meant he had more work to do to make her see it too.

"The only person I should have been holding on to this entire time was you and instead I let you get away. I will not make that mistake again and if you let me, i will spend the rest of my earthly life showing you that I mean every word of it."

She was silent for a few moments and he just took in the sound of her breathing. He knew she was thinking and he wanted to give her the opportunity to make sure everything felt right. He would not push her the way he had back then.

"I hate you so much for what you did to me back then Jeff. I want to hang up and just forget this ever even took place."

"Then why don't you do it?"

She sighed into the phone again and Jeff knew immediately that he had her right where he had wanted her all along.

"I can't do it because I love you too much to let you walk away from me again."

* * *

**Authors Notes:** This chapter is short for one reason and one reason only. I need to skip ahead to a new day here now and I don't want to add that part in at the end. So the next chapter will take place in a different day and time then this one and the last one have. Sorry for any inconvenience this makes. 


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer:** All WWE content is owned by Vincent Kennedy McMahon and any use here is purely for entertainment value only. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Summary:** Jeff Hardy had made a successful comeback after years away from the WWE, and he should be on cloud nine but he finds himself lost with no direction. Can a person from his past come back and change him for the better or will he be lost forever?

**Distribution:** Due to the amount of theft lately with fictions, I am putting a direct list of who can host this fiction. It may be changed in the future but until that time, I am only allowing my own personal site, the Open Archive, and Fan fiction dot net to have access to these works. If you would like to host any of my work please email me with a request.

**Series:** Mended Hearts Series

**Authors Notes:** No the story is not over because they have declared their love for each other. I just want to say that right off the top because it would seem that it would be easy to just end it right now after 12 chapters..Thank you for any and all reviews thus far, they mean a lot to me. On with this tale of woe shall we?

* * *

**And I don't know why.  
You always seem to give me another try.**

He held her hand as they walked into the arena together from their rental car. He had been staying with her in Toronto since the day after their phone call and he couldn't be happier.

He hadn't wanted to admit it to anyone but in the last three months he had been feeling deflated. He had won a championship as a singles competitor and he thought he was riding high. When he had to lose the belt, and in the manner that he had, it had taken him down a few pegs and he had doubts about whether coming back to the business had been the right thing. Then his brother had come back and they had teamed to beat the tag champions for the titles. The Hardyz were back in full force again and while it should feel good, he always knew that something was missing.

As they walked further down the hallway, all eyes trained on them and the fact that they were holding hands, he realized just what it had been that he had been missing. If he hadn't known before that moment that it had been her, he did now. The feel of her small hand inside his, holding on for dear life, it warmed his heart. He felt like he could do anything as long as this woman was beside him. Something it had taken him four years to finally admit.

His first night in Toronto, when he had shown up on her doorstep, flowers in hand, they had stayed up all night just talking and catching up on what the past four years had been like in the business and also in their personal lives. She had come clean about her marriage to Ron and just what that had meant to her and he followed suit with what he had come to terms with finally with Beth. They had laid their hearts on the table that night and every night since, they hadn't looked back.

"I better go get ready for my match, and you need to go talk to John about the storyline he said he had for you." she said matter of fact as they reached the Ladies locker room area. He had been here more then once, waiting for Amy and then waiting for Ashley when he had to drive her to Matt back in the day, but there was something about it now that felt different then all of those times. This time he had to leave the love of his life there.

He kissed her as gently as he could on her lips, also putting one on her forehead for good measure before taking off down the hall to deal with the storyline issues. He looked back at the locker room door before he went on his way and saw her close it behind her. All he could think about now was how fast they could make the night go so he could take her home with him to meet his father. It was about time Gil got to meet the woman that had stolen his younger boys heart.

"Jeff Hardy, just the man I wanted to see."

He turned at the sound of the voice behind him and noticed Maria standing there, a smile lighting up her features. He had gotten to know her in past few months since his return and it seemed she was always smiling about something when she was around him. He only wished he knew what it was that was so damn funny to her.

"You want to see me about what?" he replied, smiling back, his southern hospitality kicking in the way it always did around women.

"John just informed me that we are going to be working closely together and I just wanted to let you know that i think thats just great. I think we could make one hell of a team."

He couldn't believe what he was hearing and had to close his mouth after a few minutes because it was open with shock. Him and Maria was going to be placed together? How as that even possible when he was in the tag team division and never worked singles anymore? She had to be mistaken.

"Are you sure about that?"

"One hundred percent sure Jeff, so I will catch up with you later to go over ideas." she kissed him lightly on the cheek before running down the hall. His cheek felt warm where she had left her mark, but not focusing on it, he jogged down the hall to where John would be waiting for him. He only wished this was some sort of nightmare and he was not really paired with Maria.

* * *

"Are you sure you are Trish Stratus? I could have sworn that she was the one that looked all sick and lonely last week. You seem way to happy to be her. So whats the deal?"

Trish laughed at her friend and continued doing her makeup for her match that night. It wasn't often that she did her makeup before a match because it was known to smear everywhere, but she had a renewed hope in this comeback and wanted to look her best. She also knew that Ashley was right about the way she had been acting only one week before. She had been lost in a sea of the past, all of the memories threatening to take over and drag her back into herself.

But he had changed that. He had given her reason to believe again and she was not going to give up on that for one second.

"I know I was horrible last week. With the comeback and all I was a real train wreck, but a lot has happened and I have a better focus on what I want and need now. I haven't felt this good in a long time."

Ashley stared at her friend intently, trying to read what was really going on beneath the surface. They had talked at length weeks before about what this comeback would mean to her and also what it would mean seeing Jeff Hardy again. She had to wonder if this didn't have something to do with the younger Hardy brother.

"You talked to him didn't you?" she asked.

Trish smiled and Ashley knew that she had hit her mark. There was only one man in the entire world that could put that look back on her friends face and he had obviously come through and done it.

"He admitted how he feels and how he had always felt Ash. I was scared to go back there, to think that there could ever be anything anymore but I was wrong. I love him just as much if not more since I came back and I knew it wasn't going to go away, so we've been together ever since."

Ashley hugged her friend tightly, not breaking away for one second. She knew that Trish had wanted this for years, they had talked about it non stop in that time and even at the wedding, before she married Ron she had talked about it. It seemed that no matter what Trish did, Jeff was always at the forefront of it and it was good that they had finally faced their demons.

"So does this mean he can hook me up with someone now?" Ashley asked, jokingly. It was no secret that she had dated his brother Matt but now that that was over, it might be time to get out and meet someone knew. Who better to help her with it then her completely in love best friend and her new love interest?

"I hear Matt is single." Trish said laughing and putting the finishing touches on her makeup. She was all ready to rock out like the star she was. She only hoped that Jeff would get the chance to see her performance.

"So you are really doing better? You think that things could really work this time?" Ashley asked her then, causing her to come back to the conversation and think about something that she had been trying to block out. The worry about whether or not they would last had crossed her mind on more then one occasion. Usually when it did, Jeff was there to calm her fears and tell her that nothing bad would happen to them now that they were being honest with each other and themselves. But now, she was alone with the feeling.

"I'm still worried if thats what you mean. But I just have to believe that Jeff won't do what he did last time and that I won't react the same way I did. I have to believe that when he says he loves me, he means it and there is nothing else to it."

Ashley hugged her friend and sent her as many good vibes as she could. If there was anyone who knew what living a relationship out in the ring was like, it was Ashley and she hoped that her friend didn't fall prey to the same thing Matt and her had. The spotlight had taken them by storm and had hurt them more then helped. She wished more for Trish and Jeff.

* * *


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer:** All WWE content is owned by Vincent Kennedy McMahon and any use here is purely for entertainment value only. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Summary:** Jeff Hardy had made a successful comeback after years away from the WWE, and he should be on cloud nine but he finds himself lost with no direction. Can a person from his past come back and change him for the better or will he be lost forever?

**Distribution:** Due to the amount of theft lately with fictions, I am putting a direct list of who can host this fiction. It may be changed in the future but until that time, I am only allowing my own personal site, the Open Archive, and Fan fiction dot net to have access to these works. If you would like to host any of my work please email me with a request.

**Series:** Mended Hearts Series

**Authors Notes:** The John mentioned in the last chapter is not the WWE Champion but that of the writer that is just below Stephanie in the head writing and Creative department of the WWE. I hope that clears up any confusion you might have with that last chapter.

* * *

**So I'm going home,  
Back to the place where I belong,**

"Hey baby. How would you feel about me kissing another woman on camera?"

He had been standing in the locker room for what felt like forever and he was no closer to getting up the nerve to tell her about what the WWE had now planned for him then he had been when he had finally heard the news. Of course Maria had been telling the truth and he had known it deep down, but he had had held out hope that it wouldn't be true.

How was he going to explain this to her without her getting worried even more then she had been? The only other woman he had ever kissed on WWE programming was now his girlfriend and the last thing he wanted to do was make her think that something might go on with Maria the way that it had them back when it all took place on air.

"She is going to think I'm crazy for not being honest with her. She has to know that this is just work."

The locker room opened behind him then and a few of his fellow roster mates walked in, one of which was his brother Matt.

"Who is going to think you're crazy Jeff? I thought everyone on Raw already knew you were certifiable."

Jeff smacked his brother and went back to figuring out the best time to tell Trish just what the writers had planned for him that night. He knew he had to do it before they saw it on television because if he didn't she would definitely take it the wrong way. The last thing he wanted was her actually thinking he wanted to go down and help Maria out and kiss her in the process. It was the furthest thing from his mind.

Not to mention that Punk was his best friend and he knew that Maria and him had been dating for a few months now. He would never even want to get between the two of them.

"Let me guess little brother, you are thinking about Trish again." Matt said matter of factly. He was sure in fact that he didn't even ask if in the form of a question, he already knew the answer. He also knew that Jeff was being pulled from any tag work tonight and instead would be saving one of the Divas so he knew it must have something to do with that.

"Matt don't worry about it."

"I'm not worried about it. I just hope you realize that while you have been standing in here talking to yourself, your girlfriend just finished her match and you have to go out there and save Maria next. So if you haven't gone and told her the storyline change, then I would you say she is going to have to see it for herself."

As soon as Matt said the words he looked at the time on the wall above him. His brother had been right and there was only a few short minutes for him to be ready and waiting at the Gorilla spot. Saying a quick goodbye to his brother he ran like a bat out of hell to get where he needed to be. The entire time hoping that Trish would not see what happened out there and think it was anything but planned.

* * *

"Maria is down King, and Nitro is about to do a number on her already injured leg." JR screamed through the microphone by ringside. The crowd was going wild around them, wondering what was going to happen next when finally Jeff made his entrance. His music hit and he came running with a mad dash down to where Nitro had just slammed Maria with the chair.

Just as Johnny was about to lift the chair up for a second shot to her knee cap, Jeff grabbed the chair, throwing it away from them both and shoved him against the ring post. As Johnny's head hit the bar, the hollow sound of his skull hitting hard metal sounded throughout the arena. The shot was planned and once Jeff was satisfied he hadn't really hurt his friend he turned and knelt down to the injured Maria.

He swept her up then, into his strong arms, much to the crowds enjoyment and proceeded to carry her to the back. She started becoming more lucid at that moment and just as planned she looked into his eyes as they reached the top of the ramp. Laying her down, she reached up to him and in a gesture of gratitude she kissed him.

Before he had a chance to step into his role, he realized that she was taking the kiss more seriously then was intended. She had pushed her tongue into his mouth and doing the only thing he could he responded in kind. He knew that it might end up with him in the doghouse later but he had to make the scene look more real then if he had just stood there and took it.

She broke away from him then and with a slight smile she allowed him to help her back the locker room area.

As soon as he was sure the cameras were off of him, he put her down on the floor and turned to go in the other direction. What was supposed to be an innocent kiss had just turned into something more and he knew that before he showered and changed to take off for the night, he had to talk to Trish. He only hoped that she hadn't been watching at one of the monitors in the back and that he would have time to explain everything to her.

"Just what the hell was that?" a voice yelled from behind him.

Jeff turned and then came face to face with one of his best friends in the company, and the boyfriend of the woman he had just spent almost five minutes out there kissing. None other then CM Punk.

"It was part of the script man, i just had to do what they told me too." was all Jeff could muster, hoping his friend believed him. But judging from the look on Punk's face, he knew that wasn't going to be the case now.

"So it was mandatory for you to stick your tongue down her damn throat? Jesus Jeff I think that went above and beyond acting. If you wanted her that bad all you had to do was be a man and tell me."

"You have no idea what you're talking about and for the sake of stopping an argument right now I suggest you ask your girlfriend why she decided to switch the routine and jam her tongue down my throat first."

Jeff pushed his way past his friend, even more determined now to get to Trish before Punk could. Not everyone knew that Trish and him were an item again but since he had only talked to the man a hundred times that week, he knew that Punk did.

One story line move and the entire locker room was going to be in an uproar. Jeff couldn't believe it and only hoped that it wouldn't be a weekly routine for him now. He liked his tag belts too much to want to deal with this any more. It looked like the writers wanted to take him back in time four years and do what they had with Trish and him and he did not like it one bit. The only person he wanted that story line with was Trish.

He saw her then, exiting the locker room, what looked like tear stains on her face and he knew instantly that she had seen what had just gone down and he had more then his share of explaining to do. While she knew that what he probably had to do out there was business, she didn't know that Maria had gone off script and went a little too far, causing him to do the same.

"Trish wait." he yelled as she turned away from him and made her way down the hall in the other direction. When he had caught up with her he grabbed her by the arm and tried spinning her around, only to have her spit in his face when she did.

"How could you? I heard CM just now and he was completely right. You went too far Jeff, and here I was thinking that you were different. Shame on me."

She quickened her pace now, making sure she was out of his grasp when he finally got the chance to rub the saliva from his eyes. As he glazed down the walkway and saw that she was gone, he knew he had no one to blame but himself. He should have went and told her right away instead of waiting until the last minute and having it be too late.

Just what was he going to do now?

* * *


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer:** All WWE content is owned by Vincent Kennedy McMahon and any use here is purely for entertainment value only. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Summary:** Jeff Hardy had made a successful comeback after years away from the WWE, and he should be on cloud nine but he finds himself lost with no direction. Can a person from his past come back and change him for the better or will he be lost forever?

**Distribution:** Due to the amount of theft lately with fictions, I am putting a direct list of who can host this fiction. It may be changed in the future but until that time, I am only allowing my own personal site, the Open Archive, and Fan fiction dot net to have access to these works. If you would like to host any of my work please email me with a request.

**Series:** Mended Hearts Series

* * *

**And where your love has always been enough for me.**

"What do you mean you don't know where my top talent is?" Vince yelled at the two men standing before him. If he still had his hair after that horrid match, now would have been the time he would have ran his hands through it and most likely pulled it out in frustration. His show was scheduled to start in less then an hour and he was only now being told that Trish Stratus was a no show. Just what kind of company did it look like he was running?

"Vince we have tried every place we can think of and even spoken to her friends and it seems no one has been in contact with her all week. It's like she vanished off the face of the earth."

Like his night couldn't get any worse? Of all the women under his employ she was the one least likely to walk out on the business without so much as a word. She had also never been late in her entire time with the WWE before. There had to be more going on here but at the moment Vince knew he had better deal with the slot she had in the show.

"Make a Women's Title match and make it quick. I want it to seem that her being off is no big thing. Then I want you both to find out what the hell is going on!"

He motioned with his hands for the two announcers to make their leave of the room. He needed to be alone to think and they had to get themselves down to ringside before the show started to commentate.

Just as the two men were almost out the door, Vince remembered the one person that they might not have talked too. If there was anyone that might know where Trish had run off to it would be him. That day in his office and the concerned look on the young mans face told him that in spades.

"Get me Jeff Hardy and do it now."

Jim nodded his head and closed the door behind him, leaving Vince to finally put his head in his hands. He had known for some time now that he needed to take a break from running the business, because to no ones knowledge his heart was taking a killing and the doctors had told him to settle affairs so that should the time come, he would be able to leave without everything falling apart. As he sat here now, more worried about Trish then angry, he knew the time had come. He couldn't handle this much all at once.

He heard a small cough and looked up from his desk. Standing before him in all of the multi colored glory he was known for was one half of the tag champions, Jeff Hardy. Just the man that would give him the answers he needed about his newly returned Diva.

"You wanted to see me Vince?" he asked, keeping his voice low, knowing what this was about. Hell the entire arena knew what this was about. He only wished he could help more then he was about to.

"What have you done to my future Women's Champion now Jeff?" was all he said, no emotion at all telling in his voice or expression.

"Vince, I have no idea where Trish is, and if I did I would be the first one at your door to tell you. Something happened last week and that was the last any one has seen of her, Matt and Ashley included. I'm actually pretty worried. You haven't heard one word from her?"

Vince shook his head negatively and rubbed at his forehead, trying to rid himself of the headache that was forming slowly in his temples. He had to agree with the young man though, he was more then a little worried himself. They both knew from experience that this was not like Trish to run off and not leave word somewhere.

"You have no idea where she might have gone? And everyone has already checked her home?"

Jeff nodded. Of course he had checked out her home in Toronto and her car was where they had left it when they had flown in the week before. There were no signs of life and Jeff was hard pressed to say that he hadn't expected to see any either. Wherever she had gone, it was well hidden. He only hoped that what he had done hadn't put her in danger in any way.

"Well thanks for letting me know at least, you can go and suit up for your match. Oh and Jeff, if you do hear from her, you know what you need to do."

Jeff nodded and walked from the locker room, more then a little concerned. There was just no way he would be able to wrestle in his title match tonight with all of these worries about her playing through his mind. He was going to blow it and he knew it. He had better warn Matt before hand otherwise he was going to have hell to pay with his brother at the end of the night.

* * *

She walked across the grass, feeling it crunch under her weight and just took in the life around her. There was a swift whirl of the wind, which was causing her hair to be whipped from pillar to post and the bright light of the sun lighting up the sky as the birds chirped from the trees overhead.

"So this is what Jeff has gotten to see every day growing up." Trish murmured to herself as she finally seemed to reach her destination point. The house, situated to the left of her boyfriends, nestled in amongst the trees somehow seemed to feel like home.

Growing up in the city was what she had believed all these years to be the right thing for her, but feeling the nature around her now, smelling the way it smelled made her wonder what else she had been missing out on.

"Can I help you young lady?" the gruff tone of the man the Hardy brothers called Daddy said behind her.

She spun around on her heels so quickly, taken aback with fright in the quiet solitude of the day, she didn't have time to catch herself or her bearings. She felt her ankle twist then and was she sure she heard the snap. Almost as if she had stepped on a stick and broken it in half.

"Oh holy crap!" she blurted out in pain as the older man bent down to check out her ankle.

After a few moments Gil spoke. "It does not look like anything is broken, but you do seem to have twisted it pretty good. How does it feel when you put pressure on it? Are you able to walk?"

She smiled up at the man with the kind face and did as he requested. After a few steps, the sharp pain had slowed down to a dull ache and she knew it was able to be walked on. He motioned for her to come into the house and followed behind her slowly as she did. He was unaware of who this woman was but assumed given her age, it had something to do with his two boys.

As if reading his mind she realized that she should let him know who she was and what she was doing there. "My name is Trish Stratus and I work with both of your boys in the WWE. I'm sorry if I scared you or if I trespassed."

He laughed then and Trish found that it reminded her greatly of her fathers laugh. The way he had been when she was younger. It sounded hearty and comforting and another reason to add to the list that reminded her of what home really should be.

"I'd venture to say that trespassing and scaring me is the least of your worries little lady."

She blushed and looked down at her ankle which now seemed to be turning purple. Least of her worries indeed. Little did he know what her worries really were.

"If you are looking for my boys I'm afraid to say they haven't been home recently. You made the trip for nothing."

How did she bring up the real reason she was there without sounding like some stalker? That the real reason she was in Cameron was not to see Jeff, but more to get away from him because she knew that he was booked all week all over the States and that he wouldn't be home. How did she explain to this man that his son had again hurt her heart and she wanted to know why from the man that had raised him? Before she had the chance to open her mouth and tell him her reasoning though, he spoke again.

"So you are the young woman that got away."

"Excuse me?"

"My boy Jeff, he spoke of this woman, a woman he knew long ago, that he had stupidly walked away from and had never spoken too. He actually sounded pretty torn up about it. You are that woman. That is why your name means something to me.

So Jeff had mentioned her to his father over the years? Was it possible that when Jeff had told her his feelings he had meant every word and this time had just put into a difficult work situation?

_Of course that is what happened but you are to fragile that you think he wanted Maria._

Damn that voice in her head again. She had half a mind to shout out for it to shut up but she didn't want Gil Hardy thinking she was loosing her marbles on his land. He might get out the shout gun and shoot her like a mare that needed to be put down.

"He mentioned me?" was what she managed to choke out before he motioned for the sofa and she took a seat, getting all pressure off of her obviously injured ankle.

"From what I remember of those days, he seemed to lose a little piece of himself when he walked away from you. I don't think you know this Ms Stratus but you were my sons first real love."

* * *


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer:** All WWE content is owned by Vincent Kennedy McMahon and any use here is purely for entertainment value only. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Summary:** Jeff Hardy had made a successful comeback after years away from the WWE, and he should be on cloud nine but he finds himself lost with no direction. Can a person from his past come back and change him for the better or will he be lost forever?

**Distribution:** Due to the amount of theft lately with fictions, I am putting a direct list of who can host this fiction. It may be changed in the future but until that time, I am only allowing my own personal site, the Open Archive, and Fan fiction dot net to have access to these works. If you would like to host any of my work please email me with a request.

**Authors Notes:** I am in the planning stages for the second book in this series and while this one is no where near its end, I want to get an opinion of which love connection should be in the second book. So here are the two that I have come up with and I want you in any reviews given to let me know which one you think needs to be told first. We have Shane Helms ( Gregory) and Stacy Keibler and then we have Mickie James and Shawn Michaels. Your choice will help me in determining which one to tell next.

* * *

**I'm not running from.  
No, I think you got me all wrong.**

"Mr. Hardy, you must be mistaken about that. I mean no disrespect but she was dating Beth back then and we weren't all that close. You must have me mixed up with her."

There was no way that Gil knew what he was talking about. Sure, Jeff had admitted not that long ago that in that entire period of time he had loved her and that he had made a lot of mistakes by not telling her, but surely his father wouldn't know about that now since Jeff hadn't been back home in awhile. He had to have her mistaken with Beth. That was the only rational explanation.

"First of all, around these parts the only Mr. Hardy was my long dead father so call me Gil. Secondly, I am not mistaken. I might be an old man but I remember what my son said as if he had whispered it in my ear right this minute. He was with Beth back then, but she was not the one that held his heart. You were."

As he spoke, Trish tried to bring her mind back to that time. Would he really had admitted his feelings to his father? Would he had told him what he had been so afraid to tell her? What troubled her most of all was that if he had been so sure of loving her back then, then she had run from him now for nothing. She had been running from ghosts and the past this entire time. Realization showed on her features and she heard Gil speak again.

"What is the real reason you are here Trish? What has my son done now that has caused you to come all of this way?"

She blushed again, feeling sick at the thought of why she had run in the first place and what she had learned just by being here for a brief moment in time.

"It wasn't him, it was me."

Gil didn't say a word and waited patiently as she worked out what was so obviously going through her mind. He wanted to give her all the time that he could because he knew from experience that when realizations hit, they needed time to become real.

"I have been so worried about him breaking my heart again, about him not loving me the way he says he does that when one thing happens that shouldn't have, I ran. I ran away from him and what he said he feels for me and it took me listening to you, really hearing you that made me realize that I did the one thing I said I would never do again. I didn't trust him."

Gil nodded his head and stood from the sofa then. He made his way in the direction of the kitchen and stopped, as if remembering something he had forgotten.

"You are welcome to stay here as long as you want. As a matter of fact Jeff's room is just up over those stairs. I am going to make us some lunch and we are going to talk about this some more. You can go upstairs until then and make yourself more comfortable."

She stood then and nodded her head, a smile playing on her face.

"Thank you Gil, for everything."

As she made her way to the stairs slowly, taking it easy on her ankle, she heard the man sigh as he made his way into the kitchen. It was what he said next that made Trish almost want to cry.

"Ruby, give me your strength now, because I need to make your youngest see just where he needs to be. He needs your love and your heart more then ever."

* * *

_Let your heart lead you home._

His inner voice had been going mental since she had gone missing, coming up without a trace. He had wanted her to be at home so badly that he had gone there in search of her, finding nothing. There was nowhere else he could look for her and it was tearing his heart in half. He needed to see her, to hold her and to tell her that what had happened on Raw had meant nothing and would never mean anything.

His cell phone went off on vibrate in his pants and pulling the car to a stop on the side of the highway, he pulled it from his pocket. He saw the familiar number of his father and immediately smiled. That must have been what his inner voice had been trying to tell him. His father was going to call and want him to come home.

It had been weeks since he had had the chance to get back to his house and the life he was trying to build there. He knew the reasons behind it. He knew that the house was empty without her there to share it with him and he was going to live out of a bag until the day he finally got her to come back with him. HE hadn't told another soul about it, not even his brother but he remembered it now as he saw his fathers number.

Maybe it was time that he made a trip home and slept in his old bedroom. It would beat the suitcase he was living out of now and he would get to be one with the land again. Something he had been lacking in recent days.

"Whats up Daddy?" he said into the phone, watching all of the cars pass him in high speed. All racing to get home to the one they loved most likely.

"When are you planning on coming home son?" was all his father said in response.

"Soon Daddy. I know I haven't been back in awhile but its been busy on the road." As soon as he said it he knew what a lie it was. Matt always seemed to make it back to Cameron on a weekly basis and spend all of his time there, getting ready for the time when he would have to fly out again and take another beating. It was different for him though, and he didn't want to get into it over the phone.

"You left something here the last time you were here and I think you had better come home and get it right away. I don't think you are going to be able to get along in this life without it."

What had he left at his fathers? He was sure that everything that meant anything to him was with him on the road and that seeing as he hadn't been to his old house in over a few months, that his father must be mistaken.

"What are you talking about Daddy?"

"Just come home and get it."

He heard the click of the phone and slipped the cover back on his cell as well. He pulled back on the highway and saw the sign getting closer to him up ahead.

**You are now Entering Cameron, North Carolina**

His father wanted him to come home, just at a time when he was already thinking it was time he come back. At a time when he needed to bare his heart to his father and let the older man figure out just what he had to do next. Whatever happened though, he knew most of all he needed to find Trish and bring him home with her.

* * *


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer:** All WWE content is owned by Vincent Kennedy McMahon and any use here is purely for entertainment value only. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Summary:** Jeff Hardy had made a successful comeback after years away from the WWE, and he should be on cloud nine but he finds himself lost with no direction. Can a person from his past come back and change him for the better or will he be lost forever?

**Distribution:** Due to the amount of theft lately with fictions, I am putting a direct list of who can host this fiction. It may be changed in the future but until that time, I am only allowing my own personal site, the Open Archive, and Fan fiction dot net to have access to these works. If you would like to host any of my work please email me with a request.

* * *

**I don't regret this life I chose for me.**

She entered the room and switched on the light switch next to the door, allowing the room to awaken in brightness from the light. She stood in the doorway for just a moment, looking around at all of the things that Jeff had kept here at one time.

She saw the desk off to the right of the door and all of the magazines and aluminum, along with paint supplies that seemed to cover it. In fact she knew it was littered with parts of him and she felt a huge weight push against her back to make her walk over to where it stood.

She sat down in what was now a rickety old rocking chair and placed her hands on the desk. Within seconds she felt her mind littered with thoughts of him, of thoughts of what he had done here at this very desk and try as she might, she couldn't let the memories go away.

"_Jeff get your butt down here!" the voice from the bottom of the stairs called out._

_He looked up from his desk and acknowledged the voice for only a mere second. He was in the middle of writing his poetry, something he hadn't had much time for since they had become WWE superstars. Surely Matt would leave him alone for a mere second so that he could focus all of his attention on it. _

_When Matt didn't call out again he went back to the paper in front of him. He was writing a love sonnet of sorts, something that had been brought to his mind over the past few weeks as he and Trish had been growing closer. He wanted to show her this, to get her opinion. He only hoped that when she did, that she wouldn't know it was about her. _

_She had made him feel inspired more then ever lately, giving him the hope that he could be anything that he wanted to be. He had been lost in the business lately and he found that just being around her the way he was lately, that her smile could make him remember just what wrestling had meant to him at one time. _

_He had broken down and told Beth that he wanted to leave wrestling just the day before and she had stood behind him. But as he sat here now, knowing that what he was writing was about another woman and about a woman that he loved more then life itself he realized that it wasn't Beth's approval he really wanted. He wanted Trish to know how he really felt, and how badly he wanted to spread his wings and fly somewhere else. He knew this poem would do it. He just had to get up the nerve to give it to her. _

"_**But Trish doesn't even know how you feel about her."**_

_The voice in his head had been taking over a lot lately, pushing him to do things he wouldn't normally do and also telling him things he didn't want to hear. It was right this time though, she really had no idea how he felt about her and probably wouldn't feel anything should he tell her. _

_He was slowly fading into an abyss lately, a darkness he did not want to fall into but had no way to stop himself from. She could save him, she was the only one who could and he knew he could never ask her to do it. _

_He continued writing, throwing his heart down onto this paper and even letting the tears fall from his eyes as he thought of what he was about to do to her, and for himself and how it would all turn out in the end. He said a silent prayer as the tears fell and only hoped that one day she would understand just how he was feeling now and would realize that no matter what time went by, he would never forget._

She put the paper down onto the desk and stared at the blurry words on the paper. Her own tears now filled the desk with water and as she tried to wipe them away, she found all that she could do was add more to the already growing puddle.

She had seen Jeff there, through his words and through his actions and she had been inside his head at that exact moment in time. He had loved her then, just as his father had said and he had never stopped even now. He had wanted to leave the business so bad but had wanted her to be the one to save him and she had just let him walk out of her life without admitting she didn't want to see him go.

It wasn't all Jeff's fault anymore, the way she had thought then. He hadn't walked away because of her and what he was feeling for her, but he had walked away to spare her the damage he was going through. The darkness that he felt inside of his heart. He had known then that he would have killed her with her over time and hadn't wanted to do it. He wanted to be saved but at the same time he had wanted to do the saving. To make her life better.

For the first time in all of the years she had been judging him and thinking she had known what he had been going through, she finally understood it all.

She stood from the desk then and made her way back to the door and to the light switch. Something had let her see inside Jeff Hardy's head and she knew there was only one more thing she had to do while she was here in Cameron and it was something that had been a long time coming. She made her way out of the room, shutting down the lights and slowly made her way down the stairs. As she quietly made her way out of the house, her ankle finally cooperating with her, she whispered into the sky.

"I finally understand Jeff, and I will never forget."

* * *


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer:** All WWE content is owned by Vincent Kennedy McMahon and any use here is purely for entertainment value only. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Summary:** Jeff Hardy had made a successful comeback after years away from the WWE, and he should be on cloud nine but he finds himself lost with no direction. Can a person from his past come back and change him for the better or will he be lost forever?

**Distribution:** Due to the amount of theft lately with fictions, I am putting a direct list of who can host this fiction. It may be changed in the future but until that time, I am only allowing my own personal site, the Open Archive, and Fan fiction dot net to have access to these works. If you would like to host any of my work please email me with a request.

**Authors Notes:** Thank you so much for your support of this story and all of its chapters thus far. I said that the reviews were not mandatory and I meant it. But you all need to know how much your support has meant and this is the place for me to do it. So thank you from the bottom of my heart and I am glad I can bring you a quality Jeff and Trish story.

* * *

**But these places and these faces are getting old.**

Trish stood on the doorstep of the house, her heart caught in her chest and beating what felt like two hundred beats a minute. Now was the time to turn back and go back to the Hardy house, but she knew that if she did, then she would never truly move on. This had to be done and it had to be done now.

Learning the way she had about Jeff's feelings, not trusting in him from the beginning enough to chase after him and make him tell her back that just how messed up he had been, well she had the chance to make it right now. She planned on it before she ever went back to whatever her life was now. There was no other way around it.

Jeff really had loved her back then but had been trying to protect her from what he might eventually turn into. She should have seen it and had seen it a shade back when they had been working together years before but she had just let him walk away from her. But in loving her, he had forsaken some one else that she knew he deeply had cared for. Someone who had deserved to be the one holding the key to his heart.

He had forsaken Beth and now as she stood on the woman's doorstep, about to arguably make the worst decision of her life in speaking to her, she knew that deep inside she had to do this for things to be right. She had to be able to put the past behind her the way Jeff had asked a week before. She had to do it not only for herself and her well being but for him as well.

He had no idea what his leaving had done to her. How much of herself had gone with him despite what had happened in the time since. Sure she had moved on and married and even won the ladies belt a ton of times that she had lost count but she had never really been the Trish she had been then and she knew it.

She remembered the nights, spent crying alone in bed, about how she spent so much time on the road forcing herself to block out memories of him. Every person around her had been worried, even Jeff's brother Matt, without knowing the reasons why. She had not wanted to tell anyone what was really the cause of her despair but she was sure now that out of everyone, Matt had known.

She hadn't eaten for an entire month after he walked away and when she did, she ended up bringing it back up later. She felt that the sooner she died the sooner the pain would escape her veins and stop. She had wanted to stop feeling and when it did not come, she thought death would be an escape. But she hadn't died and Ron had been the one to step in and save her. Bring her back to what she thought was happiness again. But that had been a mirage because the person she should have married had been Jeff. She had never really gotten past all of it and she had used Ron to help her forget.

As she stood ready to knock on Beth's door, she realized just how blind she had been. She let her fingers grasp the doorbell and as the sound worked its way through the inside of the house, she waited with baited breath for the person she had come there to see to answer it. She didn't have to wait long.

"What are you doing here?"

"We need to talk."

Beth rolled her eyes but moved out of the way so Trish could walk through the screen door and into the home that her and Jeff had bought only four years before.

If Trish had been expecting the house to look like Jeff had loved living there she wasn't going to find it. She felt the cold blast of air as she came into the home and realized that while he might have gone ahead and wanted to give Beth a life here years ago, he had never really put anything into it. The place was cold and it felt full of pain.

"What could WE possibly have to talk about?" Beth said then, bringing Trish's gaze back to the reason for her visit.

Trish took no mind of the way Beth chose to speak to her, understanding that the woman had every right to hate her. She wasn't sure what Jeff had said when the two of them had split but she was sure that somewhere along the way Beth had gotten wind of their past and what Jeff had really felt for her.

"I'm here because of Jeff. I'm also here because both of us have some unfinished business and its time to deal with it."

"I have nothing to say to you Trish. I never have other then to say what a great friend I thought you were to Jeff. But as it turns out I was dead wrong. All you wanted was to take him away from me the entire time."

She shook her head then, knowing that wasn't what she had wanted at all. Sure, Trish had loved Jeff but she had been the one that had not had the courage to tell the man her feelings and she had let him walk away from her. She hadn't wanted to take him from Beth which was why he had never really know how she felt about him until recently.

"How can you shake your head when its the truth?" was all Beth could say in return.

"Because if I had wanted to take him from you back then I would have. You are wrong about my intentions throughout this entire thing. I don't know what you know about those days but I did in fact love your boyfriend. But I made a conscious choice to let him walk away and come back to your arms because of my feeling that it was not my place to break the two of you up. If Jeff had been meant to be with you, then he would have ended up with you and that would have been it. I never wanted to step between that."

"Then why did you?"

"I didn't. What happened between you and Jeff to make you both end up apart was between you and him. When he made his return I was leaving to be married. I had moved on with my life at that point and I had assumed that Jeff had done the same and was happy. I never and I repeat never, put the idea in his head to end things with you. That was Jeff's decision to make on his own."

Trish really looked at Beth then and noticed the look of realization hitting her eyes first and then the rest of her body. Trish now knew that whatever Beth had believed about that time was now being changed just by her being here and dealing with it. She could now see that Trish wanted to clear the air and wanted to make things right.

"What did you hope to gain by coming here today?"

"Well it certainly wasn't to be your best friend. I won't pretend that I do not love Jeff as I am sure you do as well. Why I am here is because I think we both owe it to each other to admit how we feel about the man and to come to an agreement that the past is in the past and that we both need to move on with our lives finally. You can tell me that you did move on, but Beth, I am looking around this home and the way it makes me feel tells me otherwise. You haven't moved on any more then I have."

Beth let the single tear fall then, and Trish knew that she had been right about the house and about the feeling she had gotten from being here. They might not seem to have a whole lot in common on the surface but Trish knew now that they had the most of important things in common and that was the inability to move on from Jeff Hardy.

"I don't want to hate you Trish. I just didn't have anyone else to blame. I couldn't believe that we weren't perfect for each other back then and even now."

Trish took a chance at that moment and she reached out to the young lady before her. Pulling her close and in to an embrace that felt for once, to be the one right thing to do in this moment.

"I don't hate you either Beth, and at the very least I know why you feel the way you do. Jeff is a hard guy to get over and I don't think as long as I live I will be able to forget him either."

* * *


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer:** All WWE content is owned by Vincent Kennedy McMahon and any use here is purely for entertainment value only. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Summary:** Jeff Hardy had made a successful comeback after years away from the WWE, and he should be on cloud nine but he finds himself lost with no direction. Can a person from his past come back and change him for the better or will he be lost forever?

**Distribution:** Due to the amount of theft lately with fictions, I am putting a direct list of who can host this fiction. It may be changed in the future but until that time, I am only allowing my own personal site, the Open Archive, and Fan fiction dot net to have access to these works. If you would like to host any of my work please email me with a request.

* * *

**So I'm going home.  
I'm going home. **

"Well if it isn't the prodigal son returned home to his daddy!" Gil said throwing his arms around his youngest boy as Jeff made his way into the home. He had been in the kitchen making lunch for him and his house guest and heard the car pull up on the land out front. When he had checked he had seen that it was the car his son prided himself on and he was admittedly happy to see him.

"Hey Dad, did I get home fast enough to get whatever it is I left here or what?" Jeff asked, a smile on his face also happy to see his father. It had been way too long since he had allowed himself to come home and even longer since had stopped in and seen his father.

A memory clouded his mind then, of how he had been planning to bring Trish here after Raw. He had wanted his father to finally get to meet the woman he had been talking about to him for three years. As he looked at his father, apron on and all he realized he had wished she could be here with him now. He couldn't let his mind work through anything but where she was and if she was alright.

"Son that looks like the face of a man who lost his puppy. Whats got your mind in a knot?"

Did he dare tell his father that the woman he had spoken of more then once with him had been run off again by his very own stupidity? Would his father understand? It was one thing a few years back when he had been going through issues with pain pills and his career in a downward spiral, but now that he was happier, better adjusted and rested, it wouldn't be stood for.

"I think I messed up again Daddy. I don't know why I ever thought I could go back."

Gil patted the boy on the arm and motioned for him to join him in the kitchen, where they always had their talks over a homemade meal. It was like a southern comfort he hoped he would never have to rid himself of and he found now, as he took in his old house again, and all of the touches his mother had left on it, something he was glad to be home to receive.

"So what is it that you think you have done this time Jeffrey?"

He took a deep breath, sorting all of the words out in his head, ready to spill it all out on the table to his father and hope for the best.

"Trish came back to wrestling Daddy, and we finally talked, after all of these years I admitted to her that I needed her and I loved her. We were in a good place and then the story on the show changed, and it was something that she wasn't ready to see. It went further then it should have and I think I may have lost her for good."

"What exactly did you do?"

"I was supposed to kiss another woman on camera. Now while that alone wouldn't be a big deal to any of us, least of all Trish, the woman kissed me in a way that she should only be kissing her husband and I kissed back. It went too far and Trish witnessed the entire thing. She has been missing all week and no one can seem to find her."

Gil listened to his boy talk, all the while knowing that she was just up and over those stairs, either asleep or listening to the two of them talk. He knew he should tell his son that she was here with them right now but knew that would come in time after he got out what he needed to say.

"What makes you think she is missing?"

"Well I couldn't reach her, so I flew to her home, and that of her friends in Toronto and none of them had seen her and her car is where she left it. The WWE even went as far as to send out a party of people to look for her and no one has seen her. Daddy I'm worried about her and if she is even alive. If I made her run and something bad happened to her I would never live with myself."

Gil nodded in understanding, still not believing this to be the right time. Eventually Jeff would wonder what he had left here and when he did, then and only then would Gil tell him what he wanted to know so badly. He didn't have to look any further then the Hardy land to find what he was looking for.

* * *

"You have 5 new voice messages. Press 1 to hear new messages."

Trish pressed one on her phone and held her breath deeply. She knew she had bailed on work and that Vince was going to be one or all of these calls right now. She had been dreading it for the last three days and hearing his voice booming through her speaker almost made her want to hang up the phone and get lost in the land even longer.

She knew she had taken a misstep and at the very least could have asked for the night off citing family issues, but at the time that it happened she hadn't wanted too. She just knew that she wanted to get away from the pain and revel in something new and different. She needed to deal with things her way and come to terms with the demons of her past.

"Patricia call me when you get this. You have a lot of people worried about you and missing Raw is not something I know you to do. Call me anytime."

She pressed seven and deleted the message, gearing herself for the next message. As if on cue, her best friend spoke into the phone. Another person she had to get in touch with before they thought she was dead.

"Trish its Ash. Please call me when you get this. Jeff has been by here and is looking for you. I know what happened at Raw and I know you're upset but we can figure a way to deal with this."

Again hitting seven she took in the next message, all the while doing so trying to keep herself from breaking down into tears.

"Baby, I love you, what happened wasn't planned. I didn't know she was going to kiss me that way and I just responded. It did NOT mean anything. I need you please call me. I can't do this life without you."

She knew that when she got back to the house she was going to break down and call him and let him know where she was. She owed him that much if not a whole lot more. Seeing things the way she had earlier in his room, seeing it all through his eyes had been enough to make that decision for her. He may have hurt her in the past but he was different now and she knew that what had happened with Maria would never be the thing to break them forever.

She truly believed now that her and Jeff were meant to be here together. They were meant to make a home here in Cameron, a home that they would be grateful to come home to from the road together. She knew now that everything that happened before, Ron and Beth, had all been stepping stones to get where they needed to be now.

Picking up her pace and not caring about the last message she ran towards the house, letting the grass crumple underneath her all in her excitement to tell Jeff exactly what she had been thinking. He needed to know now that she had really finally moved on from the past and was ready to start the future together.

She realized instantly that her ankle was no longer acting up, as if now that she had dealt with the pain in her heart, the pain in her body had been healed and she could finally start really living again.

As she got to the door, she stopped and took one look around the land again, not realizing the car that was off to the other side of the house while she scanned. She really felt now that she had found her place. Trish Stratus was finally where she belonged. She was home.

* * *


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer:** All WWE content is owned by Vincent Kennedy McMahon and any use here is purely for entertainment value only. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Summary:** Jeff Hardy had made a successful comeback after years away from the WWE, and he should be on cloud nine but he finds himself lost with no direction. Can a person from his past come back and change him for the better or will he be lost forever?

**Distribution:** Due to the amount of theft lately with fictions, I am putting a direct list of who can host this fiction. It may be changed in the future but until that time, I am only allowing my own personal site, the Open Archive, and Fan fiction dot net to have access to these works. If you would like to host any of my work please email me with a request.

* * *

**Be careful what you wish for,  
'Cause you just might get it all.  
You just might get it all,  
And then some you don't want. **

"So what was this thing I left here?" Jeff asked after a few minutes of dead silence and watching his father doing his cooking thing. It was amazing to watch his father learning things he hadn't been bothered to deal with when they had all been growing up. It seemed that falling in love again had changed him. He knew his mother was happy and was watching and that she had given her blessing.

"I put it up in your room. So why don't you go up and get it and then come back down and get ready to eat something."

Jeff nodded and immediately turned and walked towards the stairs. Gil heard his son taking the stairs two at a time, either very excited to eat soon or because he really wanted to know what he had left behind and he did his best to hide his smile.

He heard the door then and by the time the screen had slammed, he was at the door.

"Why young lady what are you doing down here? I thought you were upstairs asleep this entire time!"

Trish laughed and hugged the man in front of her. The man she hoped that would eventually be her father in law. If there was ever a man that she wanted to have in her family, it was Gil Hardy. He had done nothing but show her the best kind of care and comfort since she had ended up on his doorstep with a broken heart.

"I needed to get out and get some air. I hope that food is ready now."

Gil looked towards the stairs, and then back at the lady before him. "Its on the table and ready when you are pretty lady. I just need to go up and get something from my room. It won't be but a minute."

He knew that he had to get to Jeff before he called out wondering just what it was that he was supposed to be looking for. As Gil watched Trish enter the kitchen and take a seat, he took the stairs one at a time. He had to make sure his son didn't know she was here yet because when he finally did learn that Trish was waiting for him, Gil wanted it to mean something. He had to be sure that they were both ready for it.

"Ruby you came through for me again. Thank you for taking care of our youngest in his time of need."

As he reached the door and was about to take the knob, Jeff opened the door and looked his father right in the eyes.

"What am I supposed to be looking for? And why does this room smell like ladies perfume?"

Not wanting Trish to overhear them, he motioned for Jeff to go back into the room.

"I thought I put it up here but I guess I didn't. The reason the room smells like ladies perfume is because until recently there was a woman staying in here."

Jeff raised his eyebrows and then took another look down at his old bed. Just what was his father getting at and how much of it was he really going to want to hear. It was then that he saw the papers on his desk and he went to check it out, losing all track of thought as to what his father had done with other women in his bedroom.

He saw the artwork first and he smiled. He had been so into his painting the last time he had used this desk and it showed. The entire desk was full of doodles that had been flowing through his brain and things he just knew had to be on paper or on any flat surface. As he was about to ask his father about lunch he saw the poem and his heart almost stopped.

It had been almost three years since he had written it and here it was, as untouched as the day he had written it. He had put his whole heart into his poem that Trish had inspired and he only wished she could be here so he could finally give it to her. She hadn't gotten the chance then to know that she was in his thoughts and he hoped that one day soon he would be able to finally make her see.

"I can't believe you didn't throw all of this stuff out. Dad, this is almost four years old."

Gil looked at his son and around the room again, the paint and drawings littering the entire room. It certainly still looked like Jeff had never really left home.

"I kept it because I knew that one day, someone would need to be here and see things through your eyes. Your mother once told me that when you wanted to see inside someones heart, all you had to do was go to the one place they love more then anything and just feel."

"Mom was a pretty poet wasn't she?"

His father nodded, letting himself remember the past with his wife and in turn Jeff did the same thing. His mother had always had a line like that one when the time called for it and it never ceased to warm his heart and make him feel her close to him even though she was nowhere near.

"To bad Trish couldn't be here to see into my heart then, because if she was then maybe i could convince her to stay."

"Well son never give up hope on getting what it is that you want. Now why don't we go downstairs and eat lunch. I'm sure your starving and I could use a nice home cooked meal with my son."

Jeff followed his father out of the room then and they slowly made their way down the stairs in silence. Each of them in their own reverie about the past. Gil at peace with the past relationship with Ruby and Jeff relishing in the words of his parents. He knew that someday he would get the chance to make things right again and he only hoped that when he did, she would stay with him forever.

They had made their way to the kitchen when he heard the sound of a chair being scraped across the floor. He looked up and came face to face with the one person he swore deep down in his heart he would never see again. And she had never looked happier.

* * *


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer:** All WWE content is owned by Vincent Kennedy McMahon and any use here is purely for entertainment value only. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Summary:** Jeff Hardy had made a successful comeback after years away from the WWE, and he should be on cloud nine but he finds himself lost with no direction. Can a person from his past come back and change him for the better or will he be lost forever?

**Authors Notes:**The time has come now for the last chapter to be written, so look for this to be the last one and for all the thank you notes to be sent out shortly after it goes up. Thank you all for your support of this new fiction and the new series that it started. It means a great deal and I hope I can do the ending justice the way I think it deserves.

* * *

**Be careful what you wish for,  
'Cause you just might get it all.  
You just might get it all, yeah.**

**Oh, well I'm going home **

"Son before you talk I want you to listen to me. This is what I meant when I said you had left something here. Because three years ago you did. You left your love for her here with me and until she showed up on the land earlier today, I did not think you would ever come back for it. As it turns out, she came for it."

Gil looked between his son and the woman who was now on her feet standing, not looking any worse for wear and at the very least looking pleased to see his son standing with him. He took his leave of the room then with a small pat on Jeff's back to let him know he wouldn't be far away. He knew that the time had long come for these two young people to talk and he wanted to give them the opportunity to do it without him hovering nearby.

"I called you a bunch of times, I was so worried when I couldn't find you." Jeff choked out, wanting so much to go to her, to pull her close to him and never let her go again. The past week had been hell and when she hadn't shown up for work that Monday night he knew that it was not going to get any better. He felt like his heart had been ripped out when she ran and now with her standing before him he knew it was on its way to being healed. Even if she didn't want to have anything to do with him, knowing she was okay would be enough.

"I know you did, I got the messages today finally. I had turned off my phone because I didn't want to talk to anyone. I'm sorry if I scared you."

"You scared more then just me Trish when you left without a word. Vince has been searching for you, even going so far as to hire people to look for you and he hasn't had any luck. Have you been here all this time?"

She nodded her head, not trusting her voice to speak. She had so much she wanted to say to him in that moment, to make him understand where she had been and where she now was but she knew that he had to calm himself before any of that could come out. He was and is worried about her and he needed to deal with that first. The rest would come soon enough.

"Why did you come here?"

"Jeff I came here of all places because there is nowhere on this Earth other then here where I need to be."

She motioned for him to sit, knowing that right now none of what she was saying was making any sense and also knowing that in order for her to get everything out in the open, he would have to be comfortable and open to listening. With the stance he had now, as frigid as he seemed standing there she knew it wouldn't work. When he finally sat she let her heart do the speaking for her, no longer caring what it looked like or how it sounded, just that she had to get it out there for him to see.

"If I hadn't ran when I did then I would have chosen another time to do it Jeff. I would have ran from you at some point regardless of the situation. There was no better a reason to run then seeing you kiss another woman. But that was only the opportunity, not the catalyst. I never forgave you for the past, and for what i went through back then and I needed to do that in order for me to be open with my heart to talking to you now."

She took a deep breath quickly, knowing that she did not want him to intervene and try to make sense of what she was saying.

"I love you as much now as I did three years ago Jeff, if not more. But at the same time I never truly understood until I came here why you chose to walk away from me and this business all those years ago and break my heart in the process. I never understood that what you did then was so that I could be happy and I could get what I wanted out of life without you bringing me down. But what you didn't know then that I did was that nothing that was going on in your life at the time would have brought me down. I wanted to be the one you took all of your issues too. If you had needed to leave the business for whatever reason I would have understood and been right there with you every step of the way. You thought you would kill me if you brought me along with you during that time and you wouldn't have."

"How do you know all of this Trish? How do you know what I was thinking back then when I didn't tell you or even my father about my mind set then?"

"Its hard to explain and in time I will tell you all about it, but all you need to know now is that I do know that was your reasoning and I understand it now more then I ever did then. I know that what happened with Maria was nothing, just her shot at kissing another man in the name of television and getting away with it without consequences. She could claim it was all business and no one would discredit her. I also know you felt nothing but went with the moment you were in for the sake of the business."

"I was so afraid that you thought there was more to it then what there was." Jeff said, his voice calm and quiet, knowing that the time had come for them both to be honest with each other about the present and about the past.

"At first I did, and I only did because I never really dealt with the past."

"And now?"

"I have done what I came here to do and gotten the answers I so desperately needed back then and that I needed now in order to admit what I really feel. I talked to Beth, and we both came to terms with our versions of the past and how we both feel and have felt about you. She knows now that what happened with the two of you had nothing to do with me because I let you go, but she also knows how much I loved you then and how much I do now and she had given us her blessing and in turn can move on with her life now."

Jeff was in shock. She had talked to Beth about what had happened when he left the WWE and what had happened with their relationship and they had come to an understanding. Beth had given her support of whatever was going to take place between the two of them now? He just couldn't believe that all of this had been what her intent had been when she had taken off. She had spent the week in Cameron to try and get over what was overtaking her and he had never even known it.

"And you, what does all of this mean for you Trish? What do you want?"

"If you will have me, I want you and I want the life that I had always hoped that we would have. But Jeff before you answer me or tell me how you are feeling you need to know something."

"What?" he asked lightly, almost afraid to find out what was going to come.

"You almost killed me when you walked away from the WWE. When you chose to kiss me and walk away without so much as an explanation as to why. I was never the same woman after that happened and the only reason my marriage even took place is because Ron tried to save me from it. He never knew you were the reason for it but he knew that deep down, something had ripped a part of my heart out and he tried his hardest to make it come back. He couldn't because the only person that could was you. I don't want that to ever happen again with any man I ever decide to be with, or who decides to be with me."

"Matt told me Trish and I know I was wrong back then, no one knows that more then me. I want to be able to make that up to you and make you see that I am a different man now. When I told you I needed you and that I wanted you to help me hold on, I meant it. I want to love you and spend the rest of my time here in this life doing it. I walked away from you when I didn't know myself because I wanted to become the man I have become now, and at the time I thought I was saving you the pain. I'm sorry that it only caused you more pain then it saved you. It wasn't my intention."

She nodded and smiled slightly. "I read your poem, the one that you left here three years earlier. Through it I saw what you went through during that time and I know that your intention was never to drag me down as far as I fell. But you couldn't control my feelings even more then you could control your own and I do believe you would have spared me if you had known."

"Where do we go from here Trish?"

She moved then, away from the table and closer to him. The closer she came, her steps deliberate, his heart pounded harder in his chest. Just having her this close to him was making him want to scream out with feeling. They had finally addressed the past, and all that came with it and they were finally at a stage where it was all or nothing. And Jeff knew exactly where he wanted to go. He wanted to give it a chance and be all it could be.

"I want to make things right Jeff."

"What does that mean?"

She touched his hand then and wrapped it up into hers, not for once second letting her gaze fall anywhere but on his.

"When the divorce is final I want to do what I should have done three years ago."

"Which is?"

"Jeff Hardy, I want to finally be the woman that you have wanted me to be all these years and I want you to marry me. I want to finally be a family."

He pulled her into his arms then, more then happy to give her what she wanted. There was no other woman on this earth who he would have wanted or needed to fall in love with and in that vein he knew that the only person he would ever consider making his wife was now his and standing before him. There was no way he was going to give up on that now, or ever.

It was in that moment, when he held her that he realized she had said the word family. That was indeed what he wanted all of his life. To have a family with one special woman, a woman that would mirror his mother in her life and generous heart. He had finally found her and now as he stroked her hair with his hands, he knew his mother was looking down on him in peace at last.

"We have always been a family Trish, we just had to realize it."

"Yes Jeff, we were always a family, you were always destined to end up here with me just the way we are now. But in about nine months, there is going to be three of us."

* * *


End file.
